Chapters Twilight Meets Cronos And His Sons
Twilight was walking through a town in Italy, heading towards the local mage's house. She'd spent her time in this world learning about their magic, hoping that she'd be able to use it to get home since she hadn't been able to decipher the spell she'd seen while the blow to the head from behind had dazed her. She only stayed in one place long enough to learn as much as she could from the local mages. Once she'd accomplished that, she moved on. There were two reasons she was able to absorb the information that quickly. She was naturally talented, and she studied very hard.
She could conjure up the necessities of life fairly easily, and sleeping on the ground wasn't that bad once you got used to it. She could also conjure jewels, but that was reserved for paying the mages for teaching her.
She was almost there when a massive thunderbolt that lit up the whole area, appearing in the same instant as a ball of dark flame, and an enormous hourglass. Had she been able to see it, she would have realized the hourglass was actually there about a tenth of a second before the thunderbolt or fireball.
She'd heard of Heretic Gods, but this was the first she'd seen of them beyond illustrations in books. Heretic Gods were those Gods who had descended to the realm of mortals. Those without magic could only comprehend them as disasters.
Normally Gods were in their legends, and the space these Gods inhabited was known as the Domain of Immortality. The Gods in the DoI were known as Pious Gods, more because it was the opposite of Heretic than anything else.
She hurried over, the resident mage wasn't equipped to deal with a Heretic God from what the mage that had directed her here had told her, never mind three of the beings able to squash mortal mages like ants.
She didn't think that she was equipped to deal with them either, but since Heretic Gods didn't generally care about mortals, there was a very real chance that the town would be destroyed, and everyone here would die, either from the power that would be used, or from the schemes of one or more of the Gods that had arrived. She had to at least try to keep that from happening.
The possibilities of what Gods had appeared weren't too numerous. The thunderbolt either signified lightning or the weather. The dark flame was likely the work of a God tied to the afterlife, though it being a God of fire wasn't impossible. The hourglass was obviously time, but the question was which God of time. Italy was the home of the Greek Gods, the Roman Gods were a bit more spread out, but the Greek Gods were likely the ones here.
She hid behind the corner as three figures stepped out of the areas that their respective powers has struck. The one from the hourglass had a beard that was long and gray, a blue toga, and a scythe, but his presence was unmistakably a God's.
The one that had appeared from the thunderbolt had a shorter gray beard, a wreath of leaves on his head, a white toga, and lightning crackled from one hand. Zeus, an illustration of him in one of her books almost matched his current appearance.
The last had a black beard about halfway between Zeus and the other God in terms of length. He wore a tunic, but was bare-chested, and had a spear in one hand. His identity was likely Hades, as the God was known for preferring the spear as a weapon. It also made sense for Hades to accompany his younger brother over another God of the afterlife.
Now that she thought about it, the figure that had appeared from the hourglass was likely Cronos. The father of Hades and Zeus, along with the other four original Greek Gods.
It was probable that Zeus and Hades still held a grudge from Cronos eating Zeus' siblings and trying to eat him. Even a God didn't just get over that sort of thing. Besides, the Greek/Roman Gods were among the most human-like in terms of their behavior and personalities according to their legends.
"We finally managed to corner you... Father." Zeus said, the way he said the last word, it was almost a curse.
"Yes, it seems so, are you really still upset about my eating your siblings? I only did that because of the prophecy, can you honestly say you wouldn't do the same?" Cronos asked, a strange mixture of a smile and a false hurt expression on his face.
"One, You. Ate. Us. Two, you could have just not done that with your wife. Three, I have enough self-control to do what I just suggested." Zeus said, very close to attacking his father. He was nervous and under the impression that he was outmatched, it seemed.
"Barely." Hades muttered, also nervous, it was likely Cronos had gotten some form of power boost if he outmatched two Gods. Cronos' presence did seem noticeably heavier than either of his sons', now that she looked closer.
"Enough of this nonsense, let us settle this until the next time you descend from your legend once more." Hades said, readying his spear.
Cronos, readied his own scythe. "Very well, it's been some time since I had a decent fight, this weapon is far superior to the sickle I used against your grandfather." Cronos said confidently.
Twilight ran out to them. "Wait! If you fight here, the town will be destroyed and all the people here will die!" she yelled.
"I care little for the mortals, and my sons are well-versed with the idea of acceptable losses, you are wasting your time mortal maiden." Cronos said, waving a hand and causing Twilight to freeze in place as she was frozen in time. Her body couldn't move, but her mind was untouched, leaving her to try to fight the Authority of the God while the three Gods began to fight.
Cronos presence was slightly weaker, due to using a fraction of his power to completely freeze a mortal. This led to the Gods not destroying too much of the area, but that was as much luck as anything else. Twilight was putting her all into resisting, and finally became able to move, albeit slowly. This was as much due to willpower as figuring out the Authority's inner workings since she was personally being subjected to it. There was also a slight lessening of the power a fraction of a second before she grasped a chink in the Authority's metaphorical armor and exploited it to free herself.
Twilight was aware that Gods didn't die like mortals, and that Zeus and Hades would have no reason to stay if Cronos was defeated. Therefore, she needed to remove Cronos, and she needed to use lethal force to do so. Any normal person would have found the notion ludicrous, but Twilight wasn't normal by any stretch of the imagination. She was a purple pony that had been sent into a parallel world and turned into a human in the process, before that she'd saved Equestria from a corrupted goddess and the spirit of discord, before that she was the student of the solar goddess in charge of moving the sun.
*** Cronos' Perspective ***
Cronos was slightly surprised by the mortal mage appearing to ask them not to fight so near a concentration of mortals. Usually they just tried to evacuate the mortals from the area and either called in a Campione, or prayed they'd moved the mortals far enough away. He didn't let it show on his face, however, and froze the mortal's body in time to keep her from trying to interfere.
For a mortal, she had an impressive amount of power, about 5% of a full God's, a ludicrous amount by mortal standards, and just enough that she might be able to inflict an injury on a full God if their attention was otherwise occupied, like by fighting his fellow Gods for instance. The problem was that keeping her locked up like this when she was actively resisting was taking a noticeable fraction of his power, and that was affecting his performance against his sons.
When he was deadlocked with Zeus and Hades, he was forced to withdraw a tiny bit of the power he was using from holding the mortal to break out of it. This was enough to let the maiden partially break herself out of the hold of his Authority, and she began to move over towards him.
*** Twilight's Perspective ***
Twilight was getting closer to the three Gods, and had a plan.
"Divine Zeus and Hades, if you two can keep him locked like a moment ago, I could deal the finishing blow. You only want him defeated, you don't care how, right?" she asked.
Zeus and Hades thought it over for a few seconds, before Zeus said, "I have no objections, but you will suffer if you attempt to betray us and take all of us down at once."
"I concur with my younger brother, in both regards." Hades said, following Zeus a moment later.
"Accepting aid from mortals? Where is your pride?" Cronos asked, honestly surprised, and a bit annoyed.
"We dislike you more than we care about our pride." Hades answered bluntly.
"I'll be putting my all into one shot, your father is a God after all." Twilight warned her temporary allies. They nodded, it would have been insulting to them if she'd held anything back against a God, especially their father, since she was after all a mortal.
Zeus and Hades came at Cronos from either side, keeping him occupied. Twilight teleported behind Cronos, and fired a massive beam of pure magic at him. She blew a hole in him, and he began to disintegrate into sand that closely resembled the sand that had been in his hourglass.
"Hm, congratulations my sons, you've just helped create a Campione." the left side of his body had almost been completely erased. His remaining eye moved to her. "As for you girl, an impressive attack, but you only won thanks to their efforts, remember that." there was another strange expression on his face, a mixture of an amused smile, an angry frown, and a hint of approval. Less than a quarter of his body remained. His single eye moved back over to his sons. "I'll see you in a century or so." he said, just before his body disappeared completely.
Twilight collapsed seconds later, having completely drained her magic with that attack, this was dangerous because magic was closely tied to the soul, and to exhaust yourself so thoroughly could cause damage or even kill you. She lost consciousness and found herself in a strange white void with a girl who appeared to be twelve or so, who had an odd white dress and lavender hair.
"Ah, hello there. It seems that you managed to defeat Cronos. All the conditions have been met." the girl had the most motherly voice Twilight had ever heard, and it occurred to Twilight that this girl was probably a God.
The girl clasped her hands in front of her. "The black art that Epimetheus and I left behind... The sacred birth of an illegitamate child, shrouded in darkness, born of a fool and a witch. A secret rite of usurpation, only possible through the sacrifice of a God." The girl was now sitting over Twilight, getting a good look at her face. "A gift from the heavens."
"What?" Twilight asked, somewhat bewildered by what was happening, then she remembered Cronos mentioning that Zeus and Hades had helped make her a Campione... Oh. Oh. This... could be interesting.
Campione were those mortals who had managed to slay a God and become a different entity, one possessing enhanced resilience, magic reserves, an immensely slowed, if not outright halted, aging process, and at least one of the Authorities of the God they'd felled. They were able to gain more Authorities by slaying other Gods, and that was essentially the only responsibility the Campione had. Defeating any Heretic Gods who caused trouble in the mortal realm.
In return, they were given almost total freedom. This was a mixture of the fact that Campione were the only real defence against Heretic Gods, and the fact that they were on a level where only said Gods and other Campione could defy them.
"Simple. You managed to exhaust yourself completely in the act of killing Cronos, both physically and spiritually, and succeeded in finishing him." the girl said, somehow sounding both childish and motherly at the same time.
"Who are you?" Twilight asked, curious.
"I'm the all-giving woman, Pandora. You will be reborn as a Campione, a godslayer. A king among kings." the girl said.
*** Several weeks later ***
Twilight had decided to go to Japan in an effort to avoid having to fight any more of the Greek Gods. Cronos had been enough. She had gained an interesting and useful Authority from him though.
Temporal Manipulation. She could slow down, accelerate, or stop time around her, including herself, but only the physical aspect. However, there was a 5 minute limit to outright stopping time, and a 100 foot maximum radius that she could extend it to. Slowing time down was different, the maximum amount of time was determined by how much she slowed down or accelerated time. If she slowed time to half it's normal flow, then the maximum was 10 minutes, the same if she doubled the speed at which time flowed.
Once that time limit was exhausted, she had to wait a full three minutes to use the Authority again. If she used it then let it rest, the Authority would recharge at the same rate, five seconds of use for every three seconds of idleness. She'd determined all this through use and experimentation.
The battle against Hecate had been much easier thanks to it and her now a hundred times greater reserves. Defeating Hecate had given her two more Authorities, two passive ones. The first was called Wizard's Regeneration, it doubled the already impressive speed at which she recovered her magic, but not her physical energy. The second was called Wizard's Resistance, it increased her already stupid resistance to magic granted to her by becoming a Campione. By her best estimate, any magical attack not powerful enough to destroy a small building wouldn't even seriously wound her.
She'd only fought Hecate because the Goddess had been interested in seeing a mage turned Campione use magic and attacked her first. To Twilight's surprise, Hecate's reserves and her own were about equal. Either this meant that Hecate had less of a reserve than one would expect of a Goddess of magic, or Twilight had a stupid amount of magic even by Campione standards, considering her talents in the area and the spells Hecate had been using, she'd place money on the latter.
Twilight had decided to go to Japan before any more Gods showed up because it was relatively isolated, had an interesting culture, and to be honest, English, Italian, and Japanese were the only languages she knew, which left her with few options. She'd elected to go by plane as she at least was on less-than-hostile terms with Zeus. She didn't know any of the Gods of the ocean, and Heretic Gods didn't exactly like Campione.
Many of them either had grudges against particular Campione that colored their opinions of the whole group, or considered mortals who had defied Gods to be a personal affront.
*** Meeting Room of the Historical Compilation Committee ***
The heads of the Historical Compilation Committee had gathered to discuss the presence of newest of the Campione in their nation.
"I suppose we should begin by detailing her Authorities. She became a Campione by striking the finishing blow to Cronos, who was fighting Hades and Zeus. From him she gained the ability to affect the flow of time, but it seems to have, ironically, a time limit that keeps her from using it continuously. She regains use of it 3 minutes afterward, however.
Her other two Authorities are more passive, they were received for defeating Hecate, and increase the natural abilities imparted by becoming a Campione. Her ability to recover her mana and her resistance to magic are both enhanced to a level extraordinary even among Campione." an agent said, handing the file around to the various representatives.
"She is also both skilled and immensely talented with mortal magic. She seems able to learn any spell cast in front of her with ease." he continued. That had been the deciding factor in her battle with Hecate. Any spell used against her by Hecate that was not actually part of an Authority was added to her opponent's arsenal. The files also noted that she had a few seemingly unique spells up her sleeve. She'd demonstrated teleportation before becoming a Campione, so that was clearly a personal skill.
The reason this meeting had been so urgent was that there was already a Campione in Japan, and if their sources were to be believed, The eighth and newest Campione was going to arrive at the airport of the same city as the seventh. Campione didn't mix well. They either destroyed their surroundings, generally a whole city, or simply caused a miniature apocalypse in the confrontation.
The problem actually couldn't be dealt with very effectively, since this was Campione they were dealing with. Mortals on a level with Heretic Gods. Ordinary mages might as well be insects. However, one of the mages had a suggestion.
"King Kusanagi has shown a talent for attracting young women, and the newest King is a teenage girl. Perhaps the problem will solve itself. They're hardly likely to kill each other if the female King wants to date him. King Kusanagi isn't exactly bloodthirsty either." one of the representatives said.
Now there was an interesting thought. There had yet to be an instance of a King marrying and having children with another King. Between the sheer rarity of Campione and their tendency to try to kill each other if they met, it simply hadn't happened. What would such children be like?
"I suppose we'll have to hope so. Still, let's not go out of our way to introduce them. We'll have to accommodate their wishes of course, but avoid having them make contact if possible." one of the family heads said.
"What if one asks to meet the other?" a mage asked.
"Then we obey, but send a report first. That should give us enough time to prepare at least some measures.
As a side note, we know a bit about her personality, but we need more information in order to accurately predict her probable actions." the family head answered.
The mages talked a bit longer, discussing various strategies, but in the end, made no real progress due to the simple fact that the Kings were as far above ordinary mortals as Gods. Trying to control their actions beyond gentle guidance never ended well. Pompeii was an example of what happened if you tried it.
Author's Note
Alright, no more new projects. This idea simply refused to leave my head.
Twilight had flown from Italy to India, since there weren't any direct flights to Japan from her current location. Her plan had been to take a flight from India to Japan, but a storm had blown up all of a sudden, a very bad thunderstorm that left all flights cancelled until it blew off.
She suddenly felt rather strange, like she was itching for a fight. She tried to shake it off, but the feeling persisted. What was going on? It had to have something to do with her new status as a a Campione. She wasn't normally a violent person, and certainly not an adrenaline junkie.
She went outside for no real reason beyond wanting to make this surge of restlessness die down, and found a strange man waiting outside. He possessed the aura of a God, a garland of skulls, a third eye above and between the other two which was closed, a crescent earring, a skirt, was covered in ashes, an ax in his left hand, and a trident in his right. His skin was blue, his hair was molten gold and matted. This was obviously Shiva, the destroyer and/or transformer of the big three Hindu Gods. "Well crap. You're not here to kill me, are you Divine Shiva?" she asked, the honorific was so he wouldn't become angry at her for over-familiarity, rather than out of any personal reverence beyond the basic fact that this was a God. Although, being a Campione put her on relatively even footing compared to a regular person, or even a Divine Ancestor.
Divine Ancestors were basically fallen Gods that lost their memories and became the loving, willing brides of the ones that had defeated them, though they retained power far exceeding what a mortal mage could hope to achieve. They would live a great deal longer than a human, two to four times, depending much on the specific God, then recover a portion of their lost power, and their memories, upon death.
"Actually, yes. Whenever one of you Campione enter India, we lose a half dozen Gods, I'm here to prevent that and to take revenge for Sati and Parvati, whom are members of the fallen." Shiva said. Several ghostly soldiers began to form out of greyish mist, balls of fire were conjured, rain collected into spheres, snakes and vines slithered towards her, and the ax and trident transformed to become arrow-like. From what she knew of Shiva, Sati and Parvati were his lovers, so he was avenging his loves, and his fallen comrades, there was little to no chance of avoiding a fight.
What followed could only be described as chaos as the attacks were launched one at a time, only for Twilight to frantically teleport out of the way of each, before activating her Authority from Cronos. "Time is my dominion. Time marches ever onwards! The hands of time obey my will!" she called, using the power of her Authority to increase the speed at which her time moved by 25%, thus increasing her speed by the same amount from the perspective of anyone else. That gave her 40 minutes before her Authority ran out. She didn't want to take her chances with a God's magic, even with the Authority from Hecate that increased her Magic resistance. So far as she could tell, neither of the Authorities she usurped from Hecate caused any drain, and they hadn't required any reactivation after that first time.
"Your speed is impressive." Shiva said, reloading, for lack of a better word, his ax and trident each time he fired them like arrows, and a trifle concerned that none of his attacks were connecting. "Though I sense that the Authority you used is partially responsible. That teleportation spell is annoying as well." Shiva said calmly, increasing the intensity of his attack and adding small pillars of earth sprouting up at random intervals to the mix. Cows also began charging at her in a rage. This was going from ridiculous to just plain insane!
Shiva had a stupid number of Authorities, and since his comrades and lovers had been killed by Campione, he was not likely to listen if she tried to reason with him. She couldn't hope to outrun a God, who had centuries of experience, allies in the forms of worshipers and fellow Gods, and a far superior knowledge of the area, which left one option. She had to fight back. It took her about two seconds to run through this line of thought from her perspective.
She could create only rough, very rough, approximations of the force she was up against, but that was because she was overpowering spells to breaking point to come up against Authorities. She used fire to incinerate the plants, conjured weapons with magically enhanced strength and speed backing them against the soldiers, fireballs to cancel out the spheres of water by evaporating them, skewered the snakes, dodged the ax and trident, dodged the cows' charges, and smashed through the pillars of earth, which luckily were made only of soft clay that had been further softened by rainwater.
Unfortunately, Shiva retaliated with lightning striking at her, and fiercer winds hindering her. She managed to get past them, and began to pepper the God with spells just strong enough to hurt him, before using a more powerful one she was charging in-between the other lesser spells to seriously harm him.
Shiva began to grow angry. "You think to bring me down with mortal magic with a Campione's reserves and an unknown Authority backing it up? I will not fail my comrades from wounds like these!" he cried, his third eye opening, and reducing the spot of ground it looked at to ash.
"How many Authorities do you have?!" she asked. This was insane! She was lucky to doge all the projectiles so far, now she had to deal with an eye that reduced wherever it looked at to ash?! She had 17.5 minutes left, so she decided to increase the acceleration of time to double it's normal rate, reducing it to 8.75 minutes of remaining use by the normal perspective.
Shiva was unprepared for her sudden acceleration, and was unable to adequately defend for the first minute from her perspective. However, he adjusted after that, and she was forced to increase it to four times the normal flow of time, reducing her time from 8 minutes left to 4 minutes. She was simply too fast for him after that, and eventually she overpowered him, she immediately deactivated Temporal Manipulation to let it rest once she was sure Shiva was taken care of.
She gained a number of Authorities that she'd experiment with later, but then a strange man with long greasy black hair, and an overall lack of having kept up his appearance beyond being physically fit came into view. His presence was that of a God, but he had an overall evil feeling about him.
"Hey there. I was drawn to your conflict, and I can sense you're a good person, so I'm going to kill you." he said pleasantly. "I am Angra Mainyu, All the Worlds Evil." He waved his hand after that brief introduction, a wave of shadow emanated from it, she could tell simply from the feel of it's magic, that if that... evil so much as touched her, she'd die. Her instincts screaming the same thing was rather unnecessary. She sent several spells at him, but they corroded into nothingness upon impacting the wall of evil energy, and she had only 6 minutes left of use on Temporal Manipulation, which she'd taken advantage of the momentary distraction caused by flinging all those spells at him to reactivate her oldest Authority.
She tried using one of the new Authorities she'd gained to fire a slew of various weapons at him. Weapons of War, which allowed her to create and control instruments of war, on the condition that she could imagine every aspect of the particular object. Luckily, that was how conjuration worked beyond energy-to-matter conversion, so she had plenty of experience. However, only a few newly (and heavily) rusted and pitted versions made it through, and he dodged all but one which barely nicked him. She tried again with a whole battering ram, and got through with about twice the thickness of a normal staff, on the upside, it was much pointier now. She tried again with plants, fireballs, spheres of water, and lightning from the still-present storm thanks to her new Authorities, but he simply dissolved or rendered almost harmless everything she threw at him with the sheer evil he emanated. Simply being this close to it was making her feel sick.
She was running out of time as well, she was growing more precise with the new Authorities as she went, but she was also starting to feel the drain from all the magic she'd been using. Finally, she used a last ditch attack of all the previous attacks on him combined. She finally broke through his evil power, and dealt a lethal blow.
She didn't like the feeling as she got an Authority from him. When she got an Authority, it had a sensation based on the God she got it from. With Cronos, it was accepting, with Hecate, it was curious, with Shiva it was restless, but ultimately submitted. However, with Angra Mainyu, it felt horrible and disgusting, but eager at the same time. Once it passed, she resolved to test her new Authorities out as best she could while she waited for the storm to pass. She really wanted them entirely under her control.
She spent the next week figuring out the Authorities, and practicing with them. Shiva was God of many things besides destruction, and was closely associated with a number of other Gods to the point where they were synonymous for each other, so it really made sense for him to have such a ridiculous number of Authorities.
First was Weapons of War, which in theory would allow her to create and control enough armaments to equip an army, from swords and guns, to siege towers and tanks. Combined with her own skills in conjuration and levitation, she could be considered a literal army of one. In practice, however, she couldn't operate such an army to it's full extent for a very long period. She simply didn't have enough magic for such a large-scale conjuration, levitation, and of course, use of an Authority.
Second was Water's Master, which allowed her to control any freshwater nearby, unless it was already under the direct control of another being. It also passively allowed her to breath underwater, though this was only true if it was freshwater, likely because Shiva was a God of rivers, not oceans or water itself.
Third was Ghost Army. This one allowed her to call on those who had fallen in battle within a a mile radius of where she was standing. She didn't like this one because it felt disrespectful to the dead, and very close to necromancy. If it weren't for personal dislike, she could probably use Ghost Army and Weapons of War in tandem to increase their effectiveness.
Fourth was Flame Spirit. She had total control over flame, and could not be harmed by it unless the flame was unholy. However, this Authority did not grant the ability to conjure flames of a massive scale. Luckily she had mortal magic for that, and a conflagration conjured up by her and then controlled by the Authority would be devastating. Though since fire was completely indiscriminate in what it destroyed, she needed iron-control if she was planning to use it with any people nearby. It was theoretically possible to prevent the fire under her control from burning someone or something she didn't want it to burn, but she simply didn't have it mastered to that degree, nor did she have control that fine, a problem intrinsic to having a great deal of power.
Fifth was Mountain Builder, an Authority that allowed her to move the earth around her as she saw fit, but moving an area larger than a city block would be pushing it, though there didn't seem to be anything to limit the vertical movement. This seemed to mean she could in fact create a small mountain or trench, as she was not limited to upward movement. She seemed able to direct the earth as she saw fit as long as it was moving vertically at least slightly.
Sixth was Bountiful Harvest. This Authority allowed her to rapidly grow, and then control, plants. This only applied to plants that were edible apparently. Well, there were plenty of viny plants, and grass seemed to fall under it's jurisdiction, probably because of her being a pony in her home world. Most flowers as well, for a similar reason.
Next came Serpent Shepherd, which allowed her to make snakes do her bidding. It had the passive effect of making snakes more friendly towards her and those she considered allies, while making them more hostile than natural to those she had labeled enemies.
After that was Cattle Herd. She could use this Authority to alter the moods of herd animals by a degree at a time every ten seconds. She wasn't able to mind-control them, but she could manipulate them to a great degree. Though there was a certain icky feeling to manipulating herd animals as ponies were herd animals.
The last Authority she'd usurped from Shiva was Weather Manipulation. She could create or disperse storms, though it took a few minutes to build them up, and amplify or weaken individual factors of the storm system to the point of outright controlling it. Though that was not to say she could just whip up a hurricane whenever she felt like it. Those would be huge drains on her reserves, it was easier to dissipate them than to make them, although that would have long-term consequences to the environment and climate if used too frequently.
From Angra Mainyu, she obtained two Authorities. Endless Curses, and Tolerance. Endless Curses let her fire curses at an enemy or object that could cause anything from bad luck to pain. Unfortunately, channeling such concentrated evil caused painful backlash the moment she stopped using the Authority. She could also 'load' the curses onto an object, though the object would need to be of divine origin, or at least be magical. If it wasn't the object would begin to decay from the sheer evil it was being exposed to and imbued with.
Tolerance, on the other hand, raised her resistance to pain and curses, and appeared entirely passive. It seemed to be a good, if somewhat ironic, match for Endless Curses. She seemed to be getting a lot of passive Authorities, now that she thought about it. Perhaps her wishes to avoid conflict if possible affected the Authorities she'd gained.
Once she cleared the remnants of the storm away with Weather Manipulation, she took the first plane to Japan. Well, the trip was certainly eventful, but she was sure things would quiet down a bit when she managed to reach Japan.
Author's Note
They won't.
When she got off the plane, after getting her passport stamped of course, she went to get a house of moderate size. She would like somewhere where she could work on her projects in peace, and place some defenses against magical and non-magical intruders.
She could afford one because she'd used the spell for finding gems so often that she'd become able to adjust it to search for specific types of gems or precious metals and actually needed to create a pocket dimension connected to her backpack the size of an Olympic Swimming Pool to store it all.
Now that had required some experimentation. The first one imploded, the second exploded, third didn't even work, but the fourth functioned perfectly, albeit a bit too small. She was still using the fifth.
She had gathered it more because a lot of the really big spells and invocations here required materials of this type as reagents and she needed to give some to a few of the poorer or greedier mages to get them to teach her their spells. Usually she just reimbursed what they used in their demonstration.
She found a fairly large house in one of the older districts, and after comparing it to a few others, chose it as her new home.
It was a large house with a garden, and a wall enclosing it. The only way of getting past the wall after she placed a transparent shield over her house was the gate, as the bottom of the shield was the top edge of the wall. She spent the next week prepping the house.
She set up some wards. Wards were spells that were laid over an area or object and fulfilled a specific purpose. First, a perimeter ward that would sound out the ringing of a gong if someone of hostile intent entered the premises.
Second, a ward on each room that she could activate at any time she chose so long as she was within half a mile of them that would have effects varying from firing a slew of bolts of magic, using degraded versions of her Authorities, or releasing a curse monster. She also put a number in the garden that caused a degraded Bountiful Harvest to come into effect.
The next thing was a crystal that she'd discovered with a resemblance to her element that was downright creepy. She discovered it had an amazing amount of magic storage capacity. She added a few spells to increase it's capacity, and had begun dumping about a quarter of her reserves into it early in the morning every day. With her regeneration, she could recover it in a couple hours.
She could use the crystal to restore her reserves if they were depleted, and it retained nearly 100% of the power she invested in it. Unfortunately, she needed direct physical contact, and since the container she had made was only able to reduce the presence it had, presence meaning energy it released as overflow, by about nine-tenths, it was only a matter of time before it was a beacon. She soon solved this by placing a second and third layer, reducing the released energy to 1/1000.
Her last line of defense was seven curse monsters she'd created with Endless Curses, each representative of one of the negative qualities of all sapient beings. Pride, Wrath, Greed, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, and Sloth. She was writhing on the floor for half an hour after each one, even with Tolerance, though she was sure her own tolerance for pain was rising rapidly, the pain inflicted by Endless Curses completely bypassed any tolerance she had.
The curse monsters each had a different effect. Pride made a person full of it's namesake, and caused them to either charge in like an idiot, or turn on their allies, depending on their temperament and relations with the others before being affected by Pride's ability. Needless to say, she really didn't like this one, as it went against her principles to manipulate someone's emotions into betraying their friends. That was Discord's job.
Wrath made someone like a berserker, attacking anyone or anything around them. They would ignore wounds and keep going until they collapsed. Once again, the last resort for a reason. She could release them individually, so the first two would be some of the last to be released. Although, the curse beasts were easily discovered, as their victims were surrounded by a black aura.
Greed made it's victim easily dazzled by gold, jewels, etc. She was pretty sure this one was harmless otherwise, but memories of Rarity being bewitched by Discord made her reluctant to use this one either.
Envy caused raging jealousy. Of all the curse monsters, it was the most likely to cause in-fighting. As such, it was one of the last last resorts.
Gluttony made them ravenously hungry, to the point they'd eat even normally inedible things, such as wood or dirt. This one was only dangerous if something poisonous was in the area. The worst that could happen otherwise was a bad stomachache and/or vomiting. As such, it was the second to be released.
Lust caused... well it was fairly self-explanatory. Oddly, the effect was mildest with this one, to the point it could be resisted.
Sloth drained it's target of energy, making them lethargic, it also caused a halving of it's victim's speed even if they did move. This was the one she would release first, as it was the most non-lethal, only making the target sleepy, as it didn't drain any more energy after a certain point, though the slowing effect remained.
She also got some help from the local mage organization, the Historical Compilation Committee, getting enrolled in school. They seemed surprised by her decision, but she had several good reasons.
Firstly, she wanted to interact with others her age. Secondly, she couldn't spend all her time trying to find a way back home, or experimenting with transplanting her Authorities into various spells, she'd go insane.
They seemed nervous about her choice of school, but hadn't objected from a combination of fear that they might invoke the wrath of one of the most powerful people in the world, and lack of a good argument to try to talk her into going to another school. She'd been a bit overwhelmed by the total acceptance of not being able to stand against her if she chose to do something. The rules for dealing with Campione were as follows once you got rid of all the flowery diplomatic speech.
Do as they say. It's easier that way. If you resist, it's perfectly within their power to make you go through hell. Literally in some cases.
If a Heretic God shows up, make every effort to aid them in getting rid of it. Doing so will mitigate damage and hopefully make them go away that much faster.
Do not under any circumstances try to manipulate, drug, bewitch, or otherwise control a Campione. A volcanic eruption is the only thing that compares to the results. If you're lucky, they'll kill you quickly and not bring you back to life so they can do it again. If you're unlucky, they might do that, or they might destroy a city just to prove that you aren't even worth their time.
They can pretty much do as they please, and they only allow people to try to convince them not to do things at their mercy. Do not push your luck, even with the sanest, most forgiving Kings. Only other Campione and Gods can stand against them.
They were much less blunt on paper, but that's what they boiled down to. She really didn't like how someone with less self-control or less empathy might abuse their power. They were likely why these rules were formulated this way. She had learned of several instances where mortals challenged Campione, and were crushed like ants. Britain before the King of the End appeared was a good example. All those Kings fighting Gods and each other had led to a cataclysm for the lower classes, and the nobles didn't do well either.
Anyway, she was starting her first day here. The placement test had put her at 12th grade level if not college, but she insisted on the full experience. She was starting in tenth grade according to her physical age, 16. She had been placed in class a day after another girl named Lilliana, according to some whispers from her classmates. It had always struck her as odd that whispers carried just as well, if not better than normal speech.
The day progressed fairly normally until lunch. Not knowing anyone, and not really feeling like sitting with total strangers, she elected to try the rooftop.
However, she discovered it was occupied by a small group. Four girls and a boy, all in the school uniform. Of course, so was she as it was a uniform.
The first girl was an attractive blond.
The second girl had long brown hair.
The third girl had long silver hair in a pony tail.
The fourth girl had long black hair she let fall freely like the girl with brown hair.
The boy had short brown hair.
She walked over, her nerves fraying slightly. She'd never mastered social interactions. She wasn't hopelessly inept anymore, but she was definitely not a social butterfly. "Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?" she asked during a lull in their conversation.
"No, not really." the boy said.
"So, who are you?" the blonde-haired girl asked.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, I just moved here a week ago and transferred to this school. I don't actually know anybody yet." she stuck her hand out. "Nice to meet you all!" she said, smiling pleasantly. The girl with blond hair had stiffened momentarily, before calming down and taking Twilight's hand to shake it. The others looked at her oddly, but let it pass.
"I'm Erica." she pointed at herself. "This is Mariya." she pointed at the girl with long brown hair. "This is Lilliana." she pointed at the girl with silver hair. "This is Ena." Erica pointed at the black-haired girl. "And this is Godou." she laid a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Where are you from?" Mariya asked.
"Well, I haven't really been living in one town for more than a month at a time since I was six, but I've been in Europe mostly. I spent a little time in India on the way here though." Twilight said. None of that was a lie, though it left a great deal of information out. Still, there was a chance that this Godou was the native Kusanagi Godou, the seventh Campione that she'd been informed of. Sometimes she wondered if Fate, or whatever caused coincidences liked doing this sort of thing to her. She had left Italy just as the seventh Campione made enough of a splash to become a household name. She hadn't interacted with the mages in India, who could be forgiven for only making a cursory check to see if she planned to stay in their country before leaving her alone as they were always understaffed with the sheer number of Hindu Gods.
"Huh, how come you were traveling so much?" Godou asked.
"Well, I was studying an unusual subject and the teachers were scattered around like leaves in autumn." she answered.
Twilight noticed it was almost time for lunch to end, so she shoveled down her food, and excused herself before the bell rang. She was not going to be late on her first day!
*** With Godou and Company ***
"Well, she was nice." Mariya said.
"I suppose so, then again, Campione often have a different approach towards normal life than in private." Erica said, dropping a bomb on the conversation.
"Wait, that was a Campione?!" The other four people on the roof yelled.
"Yes, she matches the description of her exactly, and not many people have hair like that. Apparently, that's her normal hair color and everything. Anyway, she became a Campione after defeating Cronos. The father of the original pantheon of Greek Gods. In the first four days, she slew Hecate, Shiva, and Angra Mainyu as well. Four Gods in as many days. That's a historical first." Erica explained.
"Four Gods?" Godou asked, glancing in the direction Twilight had left in. She seemed like a normal teenage girl, if slightly neurotic about being on time and actually organizing her food before eating it in order. Okay, pretty neurotic. Still, four Gods in less than a week? That was pushing it even for the world of Campione.
Was she actually quite ruthless under that pleasant exterior? Fighting Gods that attacked you or started threatening people's lives was one thing, but actively seeking out Gods to slay them and increase your own power was something Voban did. Doni did it because he liked fighting strong opponents.
"Yes. Apparently, she got involved with Cronos when his sons, Hades and Zeus, were fighting him near a town because she was afraid the townspeople would be harmed. Hecate fought her because she was curious what a mage-turned-Campione's magic skills would be. Shiva attacked her because Campione had a history of wiping out a few Gods each time they were in the country. Duke Voban doesn't visit because they remember his previous visit to the area. Angra Mainyu just commits acts of evil whenever he manifests, randomly attacking with no provocation. Observation of the battles concluded that the eighth King can learn any spell cast in her view after seeing it only once. Using this ability, she managed to overwhelm Hecate. She also usurped an Authority from Cronos that allows her to influence the passage of time, accelerating, decelerating, or outright stopping it for several minutes at a time." Erica explained.
For a mage, the ability to learn any spell cast in front of her was terrifying, because it made all their trump cards potentially weapons in the hands of their opponent. That was what made the various Gods of magic so daunting even compared to other Gods. If you cooked up a spell just to take them down, odds were that they'd figure out a way around it before it could take effect. Still, they generally weren't able to learn spells that quickly. It seemed Hecate was unprepared for her learning ability to be outstripped.
"Phew, that's a relief! I was worried that she was like Voban for a second there." Godou said, relieved.
"How is it that you were informed of this and I was not?" Lilliana asked. As a member of the Bronze-Black Cross, and a Great Knight at that, she ought to have been informed of this
"Well, The Bronze-Black Cross is probably swamped with paperwork from your change of allegiance to Godou, as well as the natural results of the rise in prestige and influence that comes with being allied to a Campione. They're likely understaffed right now." Erica answered.
Lilliana thought over that line of reasoning, recalling that her grandfather was complaining about the increased workload before they left Italy after the incident with Athena and Perseus. Then she agreed.
"So, what do we do?" Godou asked.
"We could always go visit her house. The Historical Compilation Committee must know where she lives, and she didn't seem the type to obliterate us for it." Ena said cheerfully, as if obliteration were something to be discussed amiably over dinner.
After they thought that over, they, with varying degrees of reluctance, agreed.
Author's Note
I feel like I'm going to take some heat for Twilight implanting a ward with godly power, so here's my take on it. An Authority is divine power, fully divine when used by a God. I believe Campione are demigods in terms of divinity, half-divine. It shouldn't be too much of a stretch for a Campione with sufficient talent and knowledge, such as Twilight who has had about a decade to learn the magic and enough talent to learn at a rate that would leave most other students jealous and/or crying, to impart godly power into a ward, especially if it's only a degraded version.