Threat to the Kingdom

“And that is all I remember,” a very injured Arnold told John and company. John listened to Arnold’s recollection of the events that transpired in the woods around Springfield. The undead army that had slaughtered all the hunter clans in the woods brought back vivid memories for John. There’s no mistaking it, a lot of those monstrosities were the ones I fought in that barrier I stumbled into one day. Although, there seems to be quite a few new varieties from when I last fought him.

“My lord, are you alright?” asked Gali as she looked over to John, who was lost in his own thoughts.

“Ah, yes, sorry. I was just thinking I may have fought the necromancer behind these undead a while ago when he was still experimenting with his creations. He has a few new ones from what you’ve said. But how did he amass such a large army without anyone noticing?” wondered John out loud.

“Yes, I thought the same too. Perhaps he has funding from one of the larger organizations who has the money, manpower, and clout to keep this all hidden. None of the American organizations could do that. Perhaps one of the European...” Arnold said as he wracked his brain with his Abyssal knowledge to figure out who could have done this.

“Well, whoever it is, they no longer care about hiding in the shadows. But why would they take you all out in the woods outside the city? Plenty of shady organizations do business just fine in the city,” John pointed out.

“Yes, that’s true. Those groups tend to use mundane means of in and out of the city to do those sorts of things. All magical ways in and out of the city tend to involve moving through at least one hunter clan’s territory. If they wanted to completely lock down the city however, they’d have to control both avenues,” concluded Arnold.

“Something like a siege?” asked John, whose knowledge of history kicked in as he remembered various sieges from throughout history.

“Yes, something like that. If they wanted to control who and what came into the city, they’d have to control both the mundane and magical ways to do that. Taking control of the mundane ways are child’s play. But the magical ways?” Arnold said, taking a pause to catch his breath, “You’d have to control the various natural barriers around the city as well as find some way to block any and all transportation magic. The amount of counter magic needed to do that is astronomical. We’re talking organizations that go back millennia to be able to do this sort of thing. I’ll ha..aaaaah!” Arnold let out a yelp of pain as he tried to sit up and immediately grabbed his sides.

“Now! Now! No getting up quite yet! These wounds are not yet healed!” Gali scolded the elder huntsman as she began a new round of healing on him. “This necrotic magic is very potent. It resists my holy magic at every turn. It may even be on par with your power, my king,” Gali told John as he looked on.

“That could very well be,” agreed John as he felt his necrotic magic pulse through his hands as he looked at them.

“Y-you’re a...ah...necromancer?!” a surprised Arnold asked.

“Yes and no,” started John. “I am a **** knight. I gained this power from Lady **** herself. So I’m going to guess that because I got my powers directly from her, I have the “pure” version of necromancy as opposed to the “impure” versions that other necromancers have,” explained John.

“Your powers were given to you by...Thanatos?” asked an astonished Arnold.

“In a way, yes,” said John, not really wanting to explain Lady ****’s various versions. It would probably be best to just let the hunter just assume Lady **** is Thanatos.

“So if this magic is similar to yours, then does that mean this other necromancer has been touched by Thanatos?” asked Arnold.

“I do not know,” answered John. “It didn’t seem like **** just gave out her power to anyone. Either this person earned it from her or figured out some way to purify the normal corrupted necromancy magic,” deduced John. Arnold nodded in agreement.

“It is possible. There are many types of magic and many pure and corrupt forms of them all. The most common used magic is basically a corrupted form of the original. Very rarely do you find a practitioner of the pure forms of magic. The corrupted forms tend to be easier to use and thus spread quite quickly through the Abyss. Most pure forms of magic have been lost to time, but a few still practice the pure forms. They tend to be far stronger than your average mage. After all, it takes a large mana reserve to use those types of spells and your average mage could probably cast one, maybe two, spells before their mana reserves are exhausted,” explained Arnold. John listened to the older mage explain magic to him. Nobody else had ever told him this information. He wondered why nobody would mention it unless, perhaps, they did not know about it as well.

“That is some very useful knowledge about magic. Nobody else I have talked to has ever mentioned this at all,” pointed out John. He watched Arnold’s expressions to try and get a read on the man’s intentions.

“Ah. Well that’s because most mages don’t even know this. I only know this because Artemis makes sure her disciples know the truth of their magic. I doubt anybody you’ve come in contact with knows of the two types of magic,” figured Arnold.

“Yeah, that’s a good possibility,” decided John as he got up from his seat now that Gali was finished with her round of healing. The High Elf sighed in relief as her arms dropped to her side and rested.

“That should do it, master hunter. I suggest you stay away from hordes of undead from now on, yes?” she asked in a more “do as I say” tone. The hunter smiled and nodded at her in agreement.

“Yes, I completely agree. I have no intentions of taking on an undead horde by myself from now on. I shall meet with the rest of my clan in Greece. At least, as long as whoever is behind this haven’t cut off all transportation yet,” he told his saviors. “If you ever need anything, let me know. I’ll do my best to assist you but I doubt I could be of much use to you in Europe,” Arnold told John as he extended a hand out to the young man. John grabbed his hand and shook it with confidence.

“I may take you up on your offer if I ever visit Europe,” John said with a smile. “Now, let’s get you to the crystal room so you can get out of here and back with your family,” John said as the two began to leave the room. Gali gave them a wave before she laid on the bed and closed her eyes to rest some more.

“You know, this place reminds me a bit of the camp,” said Arnold as the two men walked through the church as they made their way to the crystal room.

“How so?” asked John, curious to hear how his new kingdom already was like an older group.

“Well, for one, there are a lot of beautiful women around!” laughed Arnold as he happened to check out a young female elf’s toned ass. John’s eyes followed his to see what he was staring at and could not help but agree.

“Yes, the citizens are quite nice, aren’t they?” the two laughed as they continued on to their destination.

“It’s a shame we didn’t find you first,” started Arnold as the two neared the crystal room. “I think you and my daughter would have gotten along quite well. Ah well, some things are not meant to be,” Arnold said as the two entered the only way in or out of the kingdom.

You’d be surprised. John thought to himself as he remembered his accidental multiverse hopping thanks to a certain green derp. He smiled back on the trip because despite all that happened, it was quite fun and Mimi and Yatina really enjoyed meeting themselves, as hard as that is to understand.