Chapter LXXXI: Escalating Once Again

(Minthara's POV)

The pitiful little worm trashes around, squealing like a stuck pig as the dragonrending curse makes him even weaker to the trap it was stuck in, the stones now easily penetrating the scales from within.

Furious shouts flatten the ground around me but Reyvin makes sure to lead Alduin's aim away from me while annoying the bastard as much as he could.

In a blink I am already standing before the freshly revived dragon, Sahloknir. Not that the name mattered as wicked grin twists my face, he won't be needing it for much longer.

Without a hint of warning or wasting any time on taunts I heft Dovakren with both my arms, its weight settling within my grip perfectly, and swing at its head. The worm twists on sheer instinct and places his wing in my way, bolstering it with a claw so that I could not simply cut through his attempt at defense.

Dovakren's enchantments burst into life and my wicked grin turns outright deranged as flesh and bone part like so much parchment and both are torn off in a gout of dragon's blood.

Sahloknir wails in pain, shuddering and twisting and trying to roll away but my body had already shifted into another swing, my arms twisting with perfect precision so as to keep the momentum from my previous strike going.

The dragon's eyes widen in a panic but it is already too late as my hammer lands and its head is split in two, bathing me in its blood and brain matter, and a moment later its soul as well.

My soul demands that I roar out in triumph but I hold myself back, twisting around just in time to see Aludin exclaim at the loss of his servant and get stabbed by Reyvin's knife, which was now shrouded in his own divine aura.

My soul was far less enthusiastic about something so dangerous to myself but all I could do was grin in approval as the aura surged and slammed into the deceptively tiny wound in World Eater's neck.

My eyes blinked on their own due to the light show and in the next instant I saw a massive burst of blood and even some bone shower Reyvin's previous position, his paranoid mind no doubt making him dodge just in case as he appeared above Alduin, his staff already pointing down and searing the World Eater's back with disintegration magic.

Akulakhan was not far either and the giant automaton was already stabbing the dragon's back leg with his glaive, doing more damage with the force of the strike than the actual blade of the weapon as the leg twisted to deflect the blow almost on its own.

Said leg lashed out in the next instant, smashing into Akulakhan and sending him sprawling back, burying him in a nearby mound but likely leaving him undamaged.

I was already moving the next moment, a whirlwind sprint on my lips as I appeared in front of my hated enemy already halfway through a devastating swing. It would have landed as well had I not been distracted by the sudden appearance of distant roars, the split second of hesitation was all Alduin needed to twist to the side and bat my strike away, his claws bending awkwardly at the contact but still managing to redirect the force away from his face.

Before I could bring my hammer down again he had already managed to recover enough to shout "BO VEN LOK TIID!" 

I tried countering his rapid movement by shouting "TIID KLO UL!" And damn near stopping time itself but even slowed down to a comparable crawl he was already outside my reach and attempted to freeze Reyvin who was barely moving at all.

Decision quite easily made I rushed to him and pulled him out of the way just in time for my shout to end and the ground behind Reyvin's previous position to be turned into a flat piece of ice.

"I really need to find a way to counter that bullshit." I hear Reyvin curse "Think we can down him before he manages to heal?" He asks me with a grin.

An expression I return as he grabs my shoulder and we both appear above the World Eater, his form already twisting around to counter our assault, but far too slowly to actually manage it as Reyvin foregoes any form of damage to blast his eyes with the brightest beam of light I had ever seen.

My fall took me a split second, another rapid "TIID KLO UL!" Leaving my throat as time slowed down once again. Alduin was already going through his own words, leaving me with a mere three seconds to act.

And act I did as my hands blurred, aided by the winds and empowered by ironflesh, I slammed Dovakren into his spine again and again and again, shattering scale and breaking bone, twisting the so called god below me with the sheer might of our blows.

He was already falling hurtling to the ground when his head painfully twisted and a wordless roar sent me hurtling at Reyvin's stunned form, both of us thrown off balance by the sudden strike for a whole two seconds.

Just enough for the World Eater to make some distance and Reyvin to teleport us to the ground, standing across the heavily wounded dragon who was glaring at us like we had just killed his entire menagerie of pets.

Good.

(A certain old tyrant's POV)

Ah, mother's skies were so pleasant today, the clouds caressing my aging scales a boon to the body, the mind and the spirit. A satisfied hum leaves me as I twist and turn through the delightfully fluffy concentration of floating water, just what I needed for a good morning's wash.

A pair of roars joins my elder brother's wails of pain. It would seem that even in his arrogance he had not forgotten the use of strategy and planning.

A pity, truly. Still, I could not help but anticipate a good bout of true Tinvak.

The Dovahkiin was talented but still far too young to hold proper conversation.

Here is to hoping my younger siblings could keep up then.

(Zarok's POV)

Another of the undead falls lifelessly to the ground as I bisect its head, stopping it from skewering Hilderbrand's flank and opening the way to a tired Tiberius. 

The swordswoman calling herself Delphine rushes to my side and stops another duo of the more powerful undead from ganging up on me and buys me enough time to turn and face them, our combined might soon bringing them down and opening our way to face even more of the shambling fuckers and their idiotic mortal worshippers.

Still, for all our ability to cut them down in droves my men were falling all around me due to fatigue and bad luck. If nothing changed we would soon be overwhelmed.

And then, as if summoned by my words, the living enemy back lines begin to shift in what I could easily tell was panic as what I could barely identify as a bunch of hunched clawed pale undead threw themselves at them with reckless abandon, slashing, gouging, cutting, and outright devouring some of them.

I almost pitied the poor fuckers who were still alive as a maw with far too many teeth buried itself into their bodies and took chunks of meat out, and soon what were once boisterous challenges and battle cries was replaced with shrieks of terror and wails of pain.

And there, in the corner of the cavern, sitting on a gods damned armchair and munching on a sweetroll sat the necromancer, completely uncaring for the butchery happening around him, only really pausing his meal to write down something in a large book in his lap.

I wanted to curse at the bastard but you don't shit where you eat so I just grunted my irritation and continued butchering the fuckers lucky enough to get to die by an actual weapon.

And then those dragons I conveniently managed to make myself forget about roared once again, reminding of why exactly I was panicking like a whelp.

A pair of them, a smaller blue one and a red one, both of the bastards the same ones from Windhelm. A part of me was quite gleeful at the lack of the third dragon, the same one who murdered my men and got himself devoured for the trouble.

A much larger part was doing its best to convince me to run the fuck away as the blue one was heading straight for our damned position!

My heart sank then, as I saw a distant cloud twist and another much larger grey dragon burst from its confines, the familiar roar of "FUUUS RO DAH!" Thundering across the battlefield and to my surprise smashing into the blue dragon, swatting him away as if he were a fly and launching him across my line of sight and straight into a nearby empty hill, straight up burying the poor bastard alive.

"Oh, it would seem that Her Ladyship did converse with the hermit after all." The old man Esbern muses, his tone belonging more in a library than on a battlefield.

I gave him a look, which he of course ignored because fuck common sense I guess, and promptly decided this was not within my paygrade. Maybe smashing another dozen skulls will make me forget the day's insanity?

Oh who was I kidding, I was going to be dreaming about this for years.

I miss the slums...

(Back to Partysnacks and Odahviing)

"Now that the whelp has been dealt with." Paarthurnax's voice is as calm as a still pond as he turns to Odahviing "Would you care to indulge this old Dovah with some Tinvak, Zeymah?"

The crimson warlord would forever swear to all those who asked that he did not gulp in fear at the kindly old dragon's question.

(Reyvin's POV)

"Don't give him time to recover!" I snap and replace my staff with Auri-El's Bow, the shinning arrow in my grip charging up with a good third of my Magicka reserve.

Minthara does not hesitate, calling out a whirlwind sprint and appearing below Aludin's jaw already swinging up.

Predictably, the big black and burned dodges to the side and exactly into the path of my magically guided arrow, his instincts saving him from losing an eye as he tilted his head down by a single twitch.

The arrow whizzes from my grip, the burning string of my bow cutting through the air with enough force to decapitate someone as my shot found its mark, leaving the World Eater reeling to the side, his missing horn now accompanied by a bloody tunnel to the side of his face where a part of his cheekbone once was.

He turns to growl at me, his instincts overriding his experience for but a moment, more than long enough for Minthara to ram her hammer into his jaw, blasting him away and breaking the jawbone but doing no more.

Almost as if defeated, Alduin grunts in a noise I could vaguely interpret as wounded pride and swings one of his claws. It summons forth a surge of Magicka, the air around us twisting and metaphysically sharpening with enough power to turn us to shreds were we not wearing magical protections.

Still, the force of the spell was enough to make us focus on protecting ourselves, my ass already teleporting behind Minthara just in case and casting a ward.

And it was then I realized that this was exactly what he wanted as he reared up "I AM AL DU IN!" He shouts to the world "AND NO MORTAL WILL STOP ME FROM MY ASCENT! SAHROT RAH SLEN!"

My eyes begin to ache as the very world twists to acclimate to his will, his wounds healing at a visible rate, save for a large gash left from my dagger's strike which refused to reconnect, his form engorging itself and a sense of danger far greater than what I felt before threatening to stop me in my place and make me accept the graciously swift death the god be fore me offered.

I scoff at the very idea of surrender and raise my staff, the eye connected to it bursting with Magnus' magic itself as I began weaving my spell.

Minthara was not idle either, another slow time on her lips as she began her charge, her sworn Blades surrounding her and my shades following soon after, Akulakhan bursting from a nearby pile of rock as he finally managed to dig himself out from his predicament.

But a part of me knew that whatever Alduin did would not let us swat him about as we did previously.

In fact, I could feel his aura intensifying with each moment he spent standing there and staring us down, the divine aspect of his existence coming more and more to the fore and replacing the flesh and blood facsimile he used to appear in the world.

A grin spread on my face in realization "Minthara!"

Her ear twitches but she doesn't stop.

"Delaying actions!" I relay my orders and begin redirecting my spells.

Just in time as well as a moment later Alduin's gigantic form blurs, cutting through the summons as if they weren't even there, which a moment later became truth, and batting at Akulakhan with the back of his claw, sending my mighty bodyguard staggering back and no doubt taking a chunk out of his power reserves with what passed as a lazy tap.

My eyes narrowed and magic circles began surrounding my target, the Eye of Magnus' power burning through my veins with each tiny speck of a second as I stacked one spell upon another, layering their effects as much as my rapid thoughts could permit before the spell itself was cast.

Like letting loose from a taut string, the World Eater aimed himself at me, his form turning into a shimmering line of black and red as he moved almost too quickly for me to perceive.

Luckily for the integrity of my body and soul my spells finished activating just in time, the massive layered purple runic circles pulsing with unnatural amounts of magic as hundreds upon hundreds of barbed chains burst from their confines and began latching onto the furious god wishing for my death.

Chunk after chunk was torn out of his flesh and his charge was slowed down, and then stopped as Minthara finally managed to redirect her charge and smash into his side, her whole form surrounded by a whirlwind of elemental fury.

He tried swatting her away much like he did Akulakhan but sadly for the arrogant little shit Minthara had grown monstrously strong over the past months and managed to at least effectively deflect his attacks without being turned to dust by mere contact, my creation just barely holding itself together as it was used to battle a literal god of destruction.

Without any mental input my body moved on its own, a sunhallowed and nine times blessed arrow slotting into the side of Auri-El's bow and loosing within a split second, hitting the dragon dead center and managing to stagger him into a fully powered dragonrend followed by an errant hammer smack to the side.

Alduin winced in pain, struggling against the sea of chains for a moment before channeling even more of his divinity and destroying a good third of them.

I pulled at my magic even harder, numerous potion syringes laying all around me as I was forced to let go of Magnus' eye and power the spells on my own. He continued his struggle, pulling more and more power from within as the very air began to attack us without a spell or shout being used.

I could already see Minthara's exposed flesh being cut by mere proximity and I do admit to panicking slightly.

A rather unfortunate fact as in the next instant I found myself teleporting before the motherfucker, my pitiful divinity blazing with power as I hefted Blasphemy in one hand and the Mortal's Razor in the other.

Alduin recoiled at my presence, the sudden loss of power surprising him long enough for me to reassert my control over the chains and yank him down towards me, a wild slash of my blade catching him on the snout soon followed by a twist of my whole body and a stab to his already wounded neck.

My maneuver did its job as Minthara burst into action next to me, her hammer striking at the open wound and almost breaking the godling's neck if the noise was anything to go by.

It was just too fucking bad my divinity had limits and promptly flickered out, giving me just enough time to grab onto Minthara and teleport us away, ordering Akulakhan to suicide charge the World Eater if necessary.

Alduin had other ideas however as the moment space cracked around us, I lost control of the chains and the fucker was already standing in front of us, grinning down at me like a cat who had just caught a particularly fat mouse, his claws already mid swing and aiming to rend us to bits.

Minthara and I did not hesitate as we both slammed his smug ass with an unrelenting force from me and another dragonrend from her.

Aaaand he just ignored all that.

"Well fuck you too!" I growl and teleport us away again.

It avails us nothing, merely delays him by a moment.

A rather powerful moment as in the next instant I feel the gaze of twin blazing gold eyes focus on our location, the World Eater completely stilling as I used the opportunity to fuck us off as far as I could before dear old Akatosh finally deigned to discipline his child.

The silence lasted for but a second though as Alduin glared at the skies "WHY?! WHY DO YOU REJECT YOUR OWN CHILD BORMAHU!?" No answer is forthcoming and Alduin begins to laugh "I see... I SEE! VERY WELL THEN! IF YOU WISH TO CONTINUE YOUR GAME OF FATE THEN DON'T BLAME ME FOR FLIPPING THE BOARD!"

His snout twists in our direction and I feel his divinity press onto us, completely locking the space around us and straining my passive defenses as the very air tried to annihilate me.

"MORTAL CUR! FALSE SIBLING!" He hisses angrily "THE WORLD EATER DECLARES YOU DEAD AND GO-" Whatever divine spell he was about to cast is broken as a trio of massive bolts slam into the side of his head, the familiar chu-chink of my ballistae reloading coming from far too close to be reasonable.

I look to my left and there he was, Tullius the beautiful bastard himself, standing atop one of the ballistae and holding the control rod pointed at Alduin who was left stunned by virtue of sheer fucking bafflement at the utterly gargantuan brass balls hanging from this man's groin.

A stun which would cost him his petty victory as Akatosh's decree came into effect and began banishing Alduin to what I vaguely recognized as Sovengarde from the imagery gathering behind the suddenly existent portal behind him.

He ranted and raged against his father's 'game' something which I tangentualy agreed with him on but saw no reason to voice it as he was pushed further and further back. Though the particular threat of "YOU MAY HAVE TRICKED BORMAHU INTO BANISHING ME BUT HOW WILL YOUR PITIFUL VILLAGES FARE WITHOUT THEIR DEFENDERS?"

Apparently Minthara was feeling just as petty as her ancient sibling and decided to send him on his way with another dragonrend, jut for good measure.

How nice of her to give me an opening.

Before Alduin was forcefully banished, a comparatively tiny speck of mettal whizzed next to his face, the unassuming little sliver of light tapping against the dragon's massive crimson eye and promptly turning it to unhealable mush as the Mortal's Razor exploded with power and neatly bounced back toward my grip.

Heh.

I turn to the far too smug looking General Tullius and grin "If you were a woman I would fall in love!" 

The man's lip twitches in amusement, doubly so as I feel Minthara smack my shoulder just hard enough to make me wince but not enough to outright break it.

I glare at the pouting woman and roll my eyes "Right then, is the fighting outside finished?"

Tullius nods "Your colleague is chasing down whoever remains of the cultists, him and a group of... particularly enthusiastic soldiers. They should be hunted down in mere hours."

"Good." I nod, my shoulders slackening a bit.

"You did hear the World Eater mention other attacks, yes?" The General probes a moment later.

"Yeah, yeah." I wave him off "Just catching my breath."

Suddenly I feel the telltale tingle of restoration magic affecting me from behind and I turn to see a slightly shy Minthara casting a rather advanced heal spell on me, one which could in fact remove fatigue.

I couldn't help myself then I smiled and began messing with her hair, promptly earning myself a shove and a swift flight to the nearby palisade wall.

I looked up to the expressionless helmeted form of Akulakhan's face "My master, I do believe you should research the meatbag concept of self preservation once we return to your grand halls."

I flip him off.

(General POV)

Atop a majestic balcony, three figures sat across each other divided by an ornate table crafted by a grandmaster and topped with bottles of wine expensive enough that even those numbered amongst the nobility could only brag that they had heard it existed.

All of them took measured sips, enjoying each moment as the magically lightened winds shuffled their opulent robes and one particularly eye caching pointed hat.

The shortest of their number, his eyes having been closed for an hour now, finally snaps his gaze open, the red orbs revealed shining with excited light "The time has come, colleagues mine!"

The old Nord man beside him sighed tiredly before nodding to himself and slowly getting up "I really enjoyed my retirement you know." He shakes his head "But I guess if a man wishes to live forever he shall also fight forever." He cracks his neck, snaps his fingers, and a wave of immensely powerful Magicka roils off his form.

What was once a kindly old man swiftly transforms, his spine straightening and his shoulders losing their slouch, the grey hair and beard he was so proud of regaining its vibrant black sheen and his once tired grey eyes becoming alight with icy blue.

"Ahhh" Tolfdir takes his first truly clear breath in centuries "How I missed the feeling of youth."

Savos quickly hides his surprised gape, chuckles and then he too rises from his seat "Why play the 'crotchety old fart' as Phineas would put it then?"

The youthful man who had replaced Tolfdir smirks and winks "An experiment." 

"Lie not to yourself colleague mine, you enjoy teaching far too much and wanted to keep the students at ease!" Shalazar squeaks, suddenly standing at the backrest of his armchair.

"Guilty." Tolfdir chuckles.

Shaking his head in amusement, Savos turns to the south and casts a quick spell, the distant skies becoming clearly visible to him as he observed a trio of large hurtling forms charging straight at the city below them "They are coming."

"Indeed!" Shalazar claps his hands excitedly "What a foolish bunch the lizards make" He giggles "Powerful their shouts may be but a wizard that makes them not!" 

"And I am sure the resident wizard lizard will be more than happy to show them where they are lacking." Savos muses as he summons his staff.

Their conversation is interrupted as Tolfdir stretches his rejuvenated muscles, the sound the action makes akin to grinding stones as a somewhat wild grin spreads on the ancient mage's face "Last one to make a kill pays for the drinks." He challenges.

By the time he received Savos' cocky nod, Shalazar had already disappeared.

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AL DU IN = Destroyer Devourer Master

SAHROT RAH SLEN = Might God Flesh

BO VEN LOK TIID = Fly Wind Sky Time

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Youth is just a state of mind.

This pearl of wisdom will now cost you all your stones.

No takebasies!

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