A Space Oddity

by J. J. Pavlov

  She has also been staying in contact with Lenoly and Vitalis. The latter was even involved in trying to save Kamii the morning after the battle in the transportation room. Although their makeshift plan ultimately proved unnecessary as the little dark elf was let go without a fuss, they maintained a good relationship and continued to discreetly ask Basarab about my potential whereabouts.

  A part of me understands that I could have transformed into Daica and made this plan work on my own, but dismissing her wish to help would have made me feel bad for her. Those that stayed behind have worked hard in my absence, so I should honor their thoughtfulness. When I see Lenoly and Vitalis, I'll have to thank them too.

  Though, as we make our way through the city, I realize that she may have had an ulterior motive when making this suggestion. Her body temperature is rising noticeably as her breathing grows ragged. She's clearly getting excited at the thought that my body is wrapping around hers and touching her all over at the same time. I'm not even doing anything other than act like a bodysuit, but whenever we round a corner, she seems to take the opportunity to rub her thighs together.

  "Daica, stop your perverted thoughts." I whisper to her through the earpiece, but she shivers in response.

  "I-I can't help it." She replies while suppressing her voice. People walk the streets even at such a late hour, so it's dangerous to be doing this.

  "Then, I'll make it easier for you." With these words, I quickly transform underneath her form-fitting robes when I see that nobody is around for the moment. Moving away from her skin and gathering my mass near her neckline, I spread across the backpack she's wearing and turn into a second layer to cover it.

  "Aww." Even in this situation, she expresses disappointment.

  "When this is over, I'll give you lots of love." I whisper into Daica's ear with a tendril extending up through her hair, causing her to nearly stumble in surprise. Catching herself and holding in her breath, she continues on her path down the main road toward the citadel.

  "I-I'm looking forward to i-it." She stutters, newfound determination to make this plan work growing in her at the thought that we would finally take our relationship to the next level.

  As we approach the bridge across the lake that connects the city with the citadel island, I peek up to barely see Hestia in her new dark purple outfit circling above us. It was donated by Daica, though some modifications had to be made to be practical while in the air. She's going to provide air support if something goes wrong.

  "Halt!" A guard at the gate calls out to the big dark elf. There is an overall of seven men standing by, with the one at the front speaking for them. "What are you doing here?"

  "O-oh, y-you know me." She stutters nervously in response. If it were anybody else, they would appear suspicious, but it's her known tic, so nobody thinks something's wrong. "I-I have come to d-deliver some m-materials."

  "An intruder was caught earlier, so we'll have to search you. It's just routine." Another guard comes over and states with a serious expression. But then I hear somebody chuckle in the background. Don't tell me they're using this opportunity to cop a feel?

  "I-I understand." Nodding reluctantly, Daica takes off her backpack, causing me to quickly retract my tendril from near her ear.

  A third guard motions to do the body inspection while the second works on the backpack. I'm clinging to the surface and replicate the leather, so they shouldn't notice my presence. However, if they do, I'll have to get violent. But before the guard even gets to do his work on me, Daica suddenly cries out in surprise.

  "W-where are you t-touching me!" She delivers a slap to the man's face, who stumbles backward in surprise under the laughter of the other guards who watched his sleaziness with curiosity. Then he hunches over while holding his face, his breath stuck in his throat. "Oh no."

  Daica realizes what she has done when she looks down at her own hand. She took off her gloves in case she had to fight, but she never meant to use her curse now.

  "Hey, Frodi, what's going on?" Another young guard asks with concern in his voice but stumbles back with horror on his face. "A-aaah?!"

  Frodi arches his back, letting everybody see what's happening. His face is cracking, and blackness is spreading from a distinctly hand-shaped indentation on his cheek. His skin is blistering and flaking off as if turning into ash. The sight causes everybody to flinch in terror.

  It was an accident, but this won't end well for Daica. Her curse only applies when touching somebody's skin directly, and the guards all wear full armor. Furthermore, they also wield swords, which they will draw on her once they overcome their initial shock and realize that it was her doing.

  "Get back, Daica." I say while forming teeth on my surface. Then I bite off the hands of the guard who froze in the middle of his inspection of the backpack to stare at Frodi. In the next moment, I leap up from the bag and onto the head of another man, which I rip off while quickly growing to my full size.

  "M-monsters!" With three of the seven soldiers already taken out, the one furthest away from us turns and runs while screaming at the top of his lungs. Now that a battle has broken out, I need to be as quick as possible.

  Throwing my arm around and stabbing a tentacle at the escaping guard, I aim to pierce the back of his knee. However, because of his quick movements, I only graze his leg armor and cause him to stumble. In the next moment, I feel a halberd come down on my shoulder and embed itself in my body.

  "Hasta de Lumin!" I ignore the weapon and point at the fallen guard's back to release the spirit spear. Without even looking at the result, I turn to the one trying to pull his halberd out of me. Growing a tentacle along the handle, I force him to abandon his weapon, then swing the back of the axe head down on him from above. The hook pierces his helmet and penetrates his brain, instantly killing him. Letting go of the weapon embedded in his head, I face my next opponent.

  But the others have turned tail and run away as well while shouting for help. The man whom I hit with a spirit spear has a dent in the plate armor covering his back and is gasping for air from the impact. I'm surprised that the spell was unable to pierce his armor. Frodi, whom Daica slapped in the face, has already collapsed and lies dead, every inch of his skin darkened from her curse. I know it's a little over the top, but that's what he gets for touching my girl with perverse intentions.

  Suddenly, a black spirit spear shoots straight through one of the escaping guard's heads from above, emerging near the hip and dissipating as it hits the ground. Armor did him no good against Hestia's far more powerful version of the same spell I used earlier. I look up but can't find the black angel, which means that she must have fired it from a pretty high altitude. Was that a lucky shot?

  Another spirit spear instantly kills one more soldier, with the last tripping over his own feet from the terror of watching his comrades die one after the other. As a guard in what must be the most peaceful place in this country, they have never been in a real battle before. This is how peace breeds complacency and incompetence.

  Hestia suddenly comes down from the sky like a giant eagle and finishes the last soldier off ruthlessly with a black spirit spear held in her hand like a physical weapon. Her other holds the short staff she brought along in case she needs wind magic, but light spells are definitely more powerful.

  It seems that the commotion has alarmed the guards further inside, as a bell has begun to ring. Almost instantly, lamp crystals attached to giant mirrors are switched on atop the castle's walls, illuminating the path between there and the citadel gate where we stand.

  "Up, Hestia!" I quickly call out to her while returning to my human appearance. She doesn't reply and mutters a quick incantation before shooting up in a burst of wind. I never thought of utilizing wind magic like that before, but it sure is an interesting application for the spell. By putting wind under her large wings, she was able to accelerate much faster than she would have been by only beating them.

  Just as she rises into the dark sky, a searchlight falls
on us, and shouting reaches my ears. They've spotted us now and will doubtlessly come out in force - which will include mages from the academy.

  "Daica, head back. When we're done here, we'll come to get you." I turn to look into the big dark elf's eyes with a gaze that suggests I won't accept any objection. I can't endanger her more than I already have by letting her come with us against better judgment.

  "T-that's not an o-option." But she points behind us with a nervous laugh. At the bottom of the bridge, soldiers are gathering to cut off our retreat.

  "Alright, then stay with me." Grabbing hold of her hand, I grow out my tentacles and pull her up while transforming into a vularen underneath her. With her riding on my back, I run across the field of grass, the searchlights trailing after me.

  Lamp crystals in the academy go on as well, and I hasten my pace to cover the distance as quickly as possible. Senka hasn't contacted me since her last transmission, so she's either unconscious, or they put her in a place where her telepathy doesn't work. I won't believe that she's dead, though.

  A group of soldiers coming from the direction of the castle quickly lines up in front of the academy. They want to take us out before the professors have to become involved. After all, the Royal Academy is next to the palace where the royal family lives. If the soldiers couldn't drive out two lone intruders, all trust in them would be lost.

  But simple humans wielding physical weapons are useless against me. It's evidenced by the fact that when a searchlight illuminates my form in all its glory, their expressions fill with terror. A vularen is just an oversized wulfar, as the species is known in this nation. I'm essentially a bear-sized wolf with huge teeth that can rip a human in half with a single bite.

  However, they do have some measure of discipline, as they brace their pole weapons against my charge. But those won't be able to harm me; I'll just pull them inside my body while busting right through their ranks.

  Suddenly, something glistens in the darkness ahead of us, and I immediately swerve left to avoid a shower of icicles. From the main gate of the academy, a group of professors has emerged wielding their staves and wands. Among them, I spot several who taught me during my time here. But Thorvald and Basarab aren't among them.

  "Hold on tight." I growl to Daica before making a near full turn on the spot before charging straight at the soldiers again. The professors can't shoot any magic at me when there are humans in the way, but their line isn't that wide.

  A black spirit spear comes down on the professor at the very front, but it only pierces his thigh rather than a vital spot. When he stumbles with a scream, those around him are immediately distracted and fumble their spells. I never thought Hestia could be this devious and calculating - I love it.

  From my shoulders, a pair of tentacles grow out, which slap aside the halberds pointed in my direction. Then I charge straight through the line of soldiers and snatch up two of them with the same two appendages, to use as human shields. With this, I continue to sprint toward the academy, where the professors brace themselves again after taking away the wounded one.

  A shimmering shield of heat appears around them as fire professor Ulfric raises his cane. In my form, he can't recognize me. Otherwise, he wouldn't be using a defensive spell meant to keep away the wild animal that I appear to be.

  Hestia seems to have decided that he's the next target, as a spirit spear flies straight at him. However, the shimmering barrier bends the spell aside, causing it to veer off at an angle and impact the ground where it dissipates harmlessly. It's similar to the one used by the double fire affinity mage working for the slave ring in Hovsgaerden.

  "Pilum Gradum!" I direct this spell and my will along with it underneath Ulfric's feet. The pillar of stone launches him into the air and undoes his shield, but before the fallen angel's inevitable spirit spear reaches him, a pool of water directs it away. Even though it's black, it still has characteristics of light, which gets bent by entering a medium of a different density. I failed in physics, but I do remember some random tidbits like this one.

  However, it doesn't change the fact that due to the fire mage falling from several meters up, the others have to catch him physically. I spot the one who cast the water spell and am surprised by the person's appearance. It's Eydis Vinterstrom, my former water combat professor. But her formerly brown hair is disheveled and has turned completely white, and dark rings have formed around her eyes.

  Suddenly, Daica's weight on my back disappears, and I look back to see her flying off after being hit by some invisible force. I didn't feel any wind, and there was no sign of any projectile, so that can only mean one thing. Letting go of the soldiers in the grasp of my tentacles and extending those to catch her out of the air before she can hit the ground, I set her down a distance away. Then I look up at the academy building.

  Thorvald is standing on the balcony of his office, his unique crystal-encrusted wand in hand. His cold eyes peer through his rectangular glasses as they regard me with pure murderous intent. It's not so much hatred or thirst for revenge, but rather a sense of determination and duty. He must have realized that I'm a Crawling Chaos.

  "You know what I'm here for." I turn into my human appearance, complete with the modified school uniform I was known for in the academy. Everybody except for the principal stares at me in surprise and shock.

  "You!" Ulfric, who just got back up to his feet, points at me with an expression of unbridled hatred. "What have you done to Master Aldebrand?"

  "He's part of the desert now." I reply in a careless tone before turning back to Thorvald. "Give me what I want, and I'll leave. Nobody else has to die."

  "Too late for that!" Eydis' high-pitched voice borders on a hysterical shriek as she points her staff at me. "Angos Aquos Phylacos!"

  That's a spell I've never heard before, but I quickly mutter the incantation for the light barrier. However, before I can finish, water appears out of thin air all around me, and I find myself imprisoned in a floating sphere. With water entering my lungs, I'm rendered unable to speak, so my spell is interrupted.

  I see Eydis continue to speak and realize that she's going to freeze me in here. After all, she has the water and wind affinities.

  There's no way I'll let that happen, though. I point my arm at her and explosively extend it, turning my hand into a spike aimed for her chest. But before it reaches her, a pillar of stone shoots up and blocks it - an earth spell cast by Bjorndal or Magni who just emerged from the main entrance of the academy building.

  Then the water freezes all around me, and my movements are stopped. But I can feel that it doesn't reach all the way inside my body, so I can easily break out of this prison. I burst out into my true form, growing rapidly and shattering the ice surrounding me in an explosion of sharp shards. The soldiers in my vicinity are pelted by it, but their plate armor protects them from harm.

  "Monster! Ahahahaha!" Eydis points at me with insane laughter, while the other professors around her shirk back from my sight. Many of them have seen my true appearance, so they won't be broken by it anymore, but it seems the water professor has already lost her wits the first time.

  "Gravico-" Thorvald's voice comes from above. It's the beginning of the same spell he used to slow me down in the basement, but it won't go the same way now. "Slosito!"

  "Hasta de Lumin!" I point at him and loose a spirit spear right as the gravity hits me. Last time, he was quick enough to cancel my incantation, but this time I started mine before he finished his so he can't chant his spell in time.

  Instead, he dodges the spell with a nimble sidestep. I never expected somebody who looks like he's pushing a hundred to be able to react so quickly. Then I notice Basarab appearing in the window to shield the principal. I guess he pulled him back, and it wasn't the old man himself that moved so quickly.

  In either case, the gravity spell is dispelled when Thorvald's line of sight with me was interrupted. I still don't completely understand how magic works in this world as I've seen others cast spel
ls without looking before. Maybe it's a characteristic of space magic, but whatever the case, I'll have to use this opportunity to take him out.

  It's a good thing that the two most troublesome opponents are together in one place.

  A stone pillar emerges from the ground underneath me, aimed at my midsection. Unlike the spikes the father and son duo created in our last battle, this one is meant to distract me as something bigger is most likely being cooked up by another mage. But I use this opportunity to step onto it and let myself get launched into the air.

  Spreading Hestia's wings, I glide over everybody's heads toward the principal's office while chanting the incantation for the light barrier. Just as I finish, and it surrounds me, a streak appears on its surface as if an invisible blade just collided with it. When I glance down, I see wind professor Hrafn with his staff raised, a surprised expression on his face. That must have been a considerably powerful wind spell, but it didn't break through the barrier.

  "Svinganto Forto!" Thorvald's wand points at me, and I feel the world tilt as I'm swung around as if being held by an invisible hand. With the light spell still active, I crash into the wall and become embedded in it. Luckily, the barrier always stays with me at its center, or I would have been tossed around inside it.

  Basarab pushes Thorvald aside and raises his hand while speaking an incantation, creating an inky black barrier into which a black spirit spear disappears without a trace. Hestia has identified the most dangerous opponent and is now focusing on him.

  Undoing the light barrier, I look up to see her a distance up in the sky with both her arms raised. She's chanting the spell for the giant lance with which she gouged a hole into Kiamedras' chest. Nobody down here can reach her, so she will be able to complete it without a problem.

  I'll take care of the rabble below then. There was no room for negotiating this time around either, so I'm not responsible for what happens next. Unlike the first battle in a confined area, we're out in the open with no transportation circle to send me away through. This will end when I want it to end.