Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3)

by Brian Wilkerson

  “Yes, ma’am.” Jasmine said sassily.

  Once more united, the Royal Ordercrafter Security and Compliance Team was an unstoppable force of law and duty. No monster could harm them and no dimension partition could delay them. Then, with the Order Obelisk in sight, a portal generated in their path. It opened onto a landscape with a titanic Order Obelisk that was flanked by dozens of smaller ones acting in concert around it. This was Blayce, capital of Latrot and home to the Grand Obelisk.

  A presence reached out of the portal and engulfed them. With indomitable force, it dragged them in. A single thought resonated in their minds with the power of undeniable authority.

  Ordercrafters cannot resist Order.

  Back inside the castle, Fairtheora endured both enchanted phrases and sharp words from his former partner, Dannaigh. Spontaneous clouds of hostile magic burst all around him. Flames, toxins, hallucinations, and transfigurations assaulted the area around him. His armor and his spirit kept him safe from her attack but could not protect him from her words.

  “Failure. Failure. Failure. Lawbreaker!”

  She flew around him in an unpredictable yet pointless pattern. After all these years apart, how could he attack his life partner? Order would pay for what he did to her, along with his soft-skin puppets! He ran towards the Order Obelisk and the ground under his feet exploded. He soared away from the obelisk and skidded to a stop on his back.

  Dannaigh hovered over him. Although her eyes were blank, disappointment was etched in every line in her face. Her wings spread dust with every flap. The area was saturated with it.

  “Bond-breaker.”

  All the fairy dust detonated at once. Magic beyond fire incinerated the room and everything in it, except for its combatants. Dannaigh was protected by her ordercraft robes and Fairtheora by his anti-ordercraft armor. She sniffed and flew away from him.

  He desperately tried to grab her, but she dodged and continued flying deeper into the castle. It was in the opposite direction of the Order Obelisk. Fairtheora looked from one to the other as Dannaigh flew further away.

  “Abyss! Activate emergency protocol 42: Friend or Idol.”

  His armor removed itself from his body piece by piece and reassembled itself behind him. It saluted him and then ran towards the Order Obelisk. Thus, he was free him to chase his brainwashed partner without technically abandoning his post.

  Elsewhere in the castle, Siron chased Lunas to fulfill his own orders. He ran as fast as he could, but the Order Domination Field slowed him down while speeding up his query. Before he cleared two hallways, he was too tired to move. While berating himself for weakness and failing his queen, he had his own revelation. He made the Sign of Fire on his chest and intoned, “Order, I beseech thee. I am under orders from my queen to accomplish a task within her home and seat of governance. Please lend me thy power for what I do is lawful.”

  Suddenly, he felt lighter. He could breathe easier and even form a mana bolt in one hand. He sprinted forward.

  At the end of the hallway, his path was blocked by a pair of soldiers. He brandished a rapier and swung it at the side of the one on the left. When it fell for the feint, he thrust center and pierced straight through the breastplate. The soldier paused for only for a moment. Then it slashed with its own sword and the other tried to flank.

  Siron abandoned his sword, ducked under the first attack, and sidestepped the second. Using momentum from the step, he shoulder charged the “wounded” soldier, knocking him on his back. This way, he was still in good shape to block an attack from the second with his gauntlet. The shock numbed it a little and made his teeth rattle, but he shook it off and kicked the second soldier towards the wall. When it stumbled, he jumped forward and pulled its helmet off. Just as he expected, the controlling rune was inside. He pulled out a dagger and stabbed it. The main body clattered to the floor in pieces. Then he walked behind the first soldier, who was just getting up and did the same. With both disabled, he recovered his rapier and continued sprinting.

  Thanks to his own lawful nature, he received power from by the Order Domination Field just like the automata. The bonuses canceled out and, without them, mindless bodies of metal stood no chance against the heir of a border dukedom.

  “Animated armor is inadequate if the metal is poor in quality,” he thought aloud. “Then again, it’s more likely that the smiths of Esrah are simply better than Latrot’s.”

  He had lost sight of Lunas, but there was only one place the prince could be. He faced a lawful opponent, or at least, one that had to play by lawful rules. As a guest, there was only one place he could expect to wield authority.

  At last, he reached the doors to the Hall of Avatars and he found it guarded by soldiers in Latrot’s armor. He sheathed his sword and his dagger, and approached them slowly.

  “Rank and file, I command you to let me pass. I am a duke of this kingdom and I have business with your master who is a guest in my liege lady’s home.”

  Immediately, the guards sheathed their weapons, stepped away from the door, and bowed to him. Culmus pushed the door open himself. He didn’t worry about a back attack; willful deception is not lawful. The doors closed behind him and he was locked inside with the delegates, the Sacred Fire, and Lunas.

  “—deserves a better ruler,” the prince was saying. “A legitimate ruler who obeys the rule of law and is completely honest in their words and deeds.”

  He gestured to the Sacred Fire.

  “Since this kingdom’s royal bloodline is about to be extinguished, another source must be found. I humbly nominate my father. He has done wonders for Latrot since the Siduban Chaos Explosion and I believe he can likewise increase Ataidar’s prosperity. What say you?”

  The answer was “yes.” Within the Order Domination Field, his power was increased beyond their simple protections. In addition to it, simple fear worked its own magic. There was nothing they would not agree to. True, some of it was meaningless, but there were enough authority figures here to justify bringing more obelisks and more soldiers. By then, it would difficult to dislodge him. He could take his seat on the throne and plan Latrot’s next expansion.

  He heard the doors open and close but chose not to acknowledge who passed through them. There was no need to until he finished his proposal.

  “What say you, Duke Siron of Esrah? For a man who pledged allegiance to a chaotic queen, you are skilled in the use of order.”

  Siron brandished his rapier. “Spare me the witty banter, son of the usurper. I am here under orders from your host to demand that you cease and desist your current actions. If you act otherwise, I will compel your compliance by forces of arms.”

  Lunas spread his empty hands, even raised them above his head. “But I’m unarmed. How lawful is it to attack the unarmed?”

  Siron stepped forward. “You hypocrite; you’re an ordercrafter. Furthermore, the situation may differ in Latrot, but no one in Ataidar is ever unarmed.”

  Lunas dropped his hands. “No wonder your crime rate is higher than ours.”

  “Again you flaunt your hypocrisy; you brainwash your subjects and silence the rest.”

  Siron lunged and the power granted him improved his speed beyond anything he’d ever felt. He feared he would misjudge the distance and harpoon the prince by accident, but before he could blink, Lunas was gone. Before he could breathe, someone pushed him over.

  “Missed me.”

  Siron regained his footing and backhanded him, but hit nothing. Lunas had somehow moved ten feet instantly. Siron lunged again, but Lunas was faster. He dodged every slash, kick, and strike without moving from his spot.

  “Too slow.”

  He brought up his knee and kicked the duke into the round table. Before Siron could react, Lunas was choking him. He stopped short of strangulation and instead threw Siron into a wall. In a flash, he was there and holding Siron up by the collar of his formal shirt.

  “You can’t touch me, Esrah. As a prince, I rank higher than you, even though this
is your territory and Order will always side with the highest rank.”

  Siron cocked a punch and Lunas was on the other side of the room before he could throw it and then back again and into a second punch. The physical damage was minor, minimized by the Order Domination Field, but the psychological toll was maddening.

  “The monarch that relies on strength alone is no different from a thug,” Siron said with a sneer. “Reflections by Aurelous Mirkus Superbus, ch. 1.”

  “The true monarch uses every tools at his disposal,” Lunas said in reply. “Same chapter. It was not strength that defeated Kasile; it was her weakness turned against her.”

  “How dare you insult my queen!” He pulled off his glove and whipped it across Lunas’ face. “You will answer for your slander.”

  Although the red mark stung on Lunas cheek, a simper emerged from his lips.

  “A duel, is it? You will regret issuing your challenge. Before it was unlawful for me to kill a servant of my host, but now it’s perfectly lawful.” He turned to one of his dominated bodyguards and commanded, “Give me a sword.” The bodyguard immediately complied. He turned to another and commanded, “Give me a shield.” He turned to the Support Branch of Mithra and commanded, “Be our judge.” The dominated diplomat nodded. Finally, he turned to Siron and said, “Now I may kill you like a civilized man.”

  On the balcony, Nulso prepared to collar Annala. He leaned over to grasp the stone on the choker given to her by Eric and the Order Obelisk forbade Annala from stopping him. Her Death Killer bow couldn’t kill him, even if she could draw it. All she could do was talk, but neither spells nor chaotic hymns would hurt him. It was hopeless. Yet as Nulso ripped the gift from her neck and put his own in its place, she involuntarily shouted, “Lady Chaos, save me!”

  A pair of arms appeared out of her sash and poked Nulso in the eyes. He stumbled backward, taking the Subjugation Collar with him. The right hand gave Annala a thumbs-up and the left hand gave Nulso the finger.

  “Impossible...” the ordercrafter said while rubbing his eyes. Despite his pain and frustration, his voice remained flat and his face expressionless. “This dimension is sealed.”

  Rojo Genki waggled both index fingers. Then two more arms grew out of the first two and held two messages before Annala’s eyes. The first read, “Compassion Conquers” and the second read, “Fear is Courage.” Then the arms placed her Death Killer bow in her hand.

  Annala nodded and used it to push herself to her feet. She brandished it with both hands but did not draw an arrow. She took a deep breath and forced herself to say the following words as calmly and nicely as possible, “Mr. Butchin, I want to help you.”

  “What.”

  Confusion was the first emotion to show on Nulso’ face since the start of this battle.

  “I know what happened to you the night your clinic was attacked. My mom told me everything after I told her I visited it. I’m sorry you had to go through such pain. You didn’t deserve it. I know someone that can heal you.”

  “Harry Butchin cannot be healed because he is dead.” A hint of irritation slipped into his voice. “He was killed by Nunnal Enaz and Ginger Hasina when they abandoned him. I am a composite of souls of which he is merely the princeps. He has no authority.”

  “If that were true, then you wouldn’t be wasting your time with me! I’m nobody important as regards to the summit or this hostile takeover; just a powerless, apostate, schoolgirl. You could be going after my father the ambassador or Queen Kasile. You could be guarding the Order Obelisk or fighting the Palace Sentinel. Kallen’s probably the biggest threat to your boss’ plan and yet I doubt you even know where she is. Of all the objectives you could possibly have, I must be lower and longer term than any other. You’re here because you want revenge against my mother and Auntie H, but even Order would tell you that revenge will not bring you peace.”

  No attack answered her words. On the contrary, Nulso was listening to them and nodding. Shrinking her bow, she held her arms out.

  “Healer Harry Butchin, please let me help you.”

  “You do not sound like your mother or aunt. Perhaps...”

  Annala waited patiently for him to start again. He didn’t. Instead, the non-light of Order intensified around him. It reflected in his eyes and they dilated. When they came back into focus, Annala wanted to notch an arrow. Nulso’s face was livid with rage. His mouth was twisted into a snarl, veins popped out of his forehead, and a scathing hatred for all things chaotic radiated from his Evil Eye.

  “DOM-IN-ATION!”

  Spiritual energy exploded from him, knocking Annala off her feet and slamming her against the balcony’s railing. From this spiritual energy, Order constructs in the shape of hands emerged and pinned Annala in place.

  In response, Rojo Genki generated just as many arms and released enough divinity to make them glow with golden-brown light. The trickster pounded and yanked on the arms restraining Annala while also striking Nulso. The Order constructs were all burned away and Nulso retreated under the onslaught. Then the last one pulled Annala’s sash loose. Without the knot, there was no place for Rojo Genki to emerge, and thus the trickster was cut off at the source. Annala was now truly alone on the balcony.

  “You are the one in need of help, Golden Hair.”

  He dangled the Subjugation Collar.

  “Lord Order will cure your apostasy for you.”

  The collar snapped shut around her neck, then tightened until she could scarcely breathe. There was no keyhole. It was a seamless loop of subjugation. Only a dull gem at the base of her throat stood out. Now that the collar was secure, it activated.

  Ordercraft runes parasitically fed on her personal mana and channeled it to others, activating them in turn. They gleamed and began her domination. She cried out in pain as they penetrated her mind. She thrashed wildly to escape the violation as they encroached on her soul. The order constructs kept her still while Nulso looked down in triumph. When she quieted down and a translucent beam formed between the gem and his hand, he knew it was finished. He raised her chin and saw emptiness in her eyes.

  “How do you feel, my Golden Hair?”

  “Master, if it pleases you, please take me away from here.”

  With a thought, Nulso created another portal born of ordercraft. The feel of it sent Annala into a fresh surge of struggling, but the collar immediately choked it out of her and resumed dominance. Between Nulso tugging her leash and the Order Domination Field empowering both, she had no choice but to enter the portal.

  Meanwhile, her knight was engaged in battle with Gruffle outside the castle. While Eric had recovered from the Order Obelisk’s beam weapon, he couldn’t defend himself because his body was too badly damaged. The wolf-troll took his time beating the snot out of him. It was why he showed up for assignment.

  In addition to the money, he wanted a piece of Eric’s hide. It was Eric's fault that he was basically enslaved to Queen Kasile, just as it was Eric's fault that he was cursed with necrocraft. The little shit deserved every last swing of his new club. He beat, smashed, and stomped Eric’s body every time the Seed of Chaos tried to return it to human form.

  "That ain't right!"

  It was a collective shout from the activists camped beside the moat. When the mangled form that was Eric dropped in front of them and Gruffle started beating on it, they were too surprised to take action. However, Gruffle's cruelty galvanized them. The two groups came together, discussed their plan of action, and then made their intent public.

  "That boy is a living sapient creature just like you are. By indulging in such sadism, you demonstrate that you are closer to a 'savage monster' than he is. Stop at once!" said the spokesman for the pro-medical mana mutation crowd.

  "Even if he is a savage monster, you can't just beat on him like that. Either kill him and be done with it or leave him alone. Otherwise, you are breaking the law. We too insist that you stop at once!" said the spokesman for the anti-medical mana mutation crowd.

&nbs
p; Gruffle scoffed, "What are you gonna do if I don't? Write me a strongly worded letter?"

  Dozens and dozens of hands glowed with the light of charged mana. Suddenly, Gruffle felt that mocking them was a bad idea.

  "Behold the power of the people!"

  A storm of mana bolts rained down on Gruffle. Empowered as he was by stolen kon, his barrier blocked them all. He wasn't hurt, but it was only a matter of time before they cracked his shell and pelted him into oblivion. More urgently, they distracted him long enough for Eric's recovery to pass a critical stage.

  Supercharged by his monstrous will to live, his body repaired itself from its broken state to its true form. His body was now properly functioning again. Grendel stood tall once more and his lips separated into a grin. Gruffle gulped.

  As the seconds passed, the troll-wolf leaked kon quicker than a Country of Conflict raiding party in a bonus dungeon. Grendel struck with speed and precision. Every strike was either maiming or fatal. Gruffle recovered just as quickly as Eric, but the blood from such injuries remained. It was time for phase two.

  “Nulso just kidnapped your girlfriend.”

  Eric pounded the ground and knocked Gruffle off his feet with a shockwave. He followed up with a heel stomp to the groin.

  “AAAHH! GRRMM...Yeah. You know what perverted old men do to innocent young girls when they’re alone.”

  Eric snarled.

  “He’s going to deflower your precious maiden and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

  Eric roared and attacked savagely. Gruffle shouted as loud as he could and with exaggerated painful movements. Then Eric tore his arms off and he was no longer exaggerating. Both groups of activists were horrified by the reversal. No one passing by would see a human fighting a troll. They would see a troll defending himself from a monster. When the local guards finally arrived, they reacted appropriately.

  “By the flame of Fiol!”

  A burning spear flew through the air and stuck Eric in his side. Eight more quickly followed. Eric roared at the nine spearmen and charged them. Four guards slipped into his path and projected their barriers against him. In response, he lowered his head and ran faster. They met his charge, gave a little ground, and then flipped him onto his back. The nine spearmen raced forward and impaled him with their melee spears.