Bog Standard Isekai

A lot of things started happening at once, and since Brin had a lot of eyes in every direction, he was audience to much of it.

The most obvious and alarming problem was that the Alent was starting to boil. It was subtle now; he doubted that anyone except for the fishermen on the docks had noticed, but bubbles were forming and dark colors swirled in the depths.

Less alarming to the uninformed was when a commoner girl stepped away from her friends to be sick in a bush. This drunk so early in the day? Lightweights should pace themselves. The vomit was strangely colored? Never drink anything a [Mage] gave you; that was common sense. Brin found the spectacle a bit more alarming, on the other hand.

Hogg was in the Labyrinth under the Tower again. Only this time he wasn't overpowering the maze with his mastery of Sound magic. Instead, he and a few other unmasked [Mages] were being led through by Valentin himself. If Hogg thought that was important enough that this was where he needed to be right now, then Brin would trust him.

Back up on the ground and behind the Tower, a wagon had stopped on the exit ramp on the carriage drop-off, and someone had set it on fire. It wasn't going to spread, but it was creating a fairly bad traffic jam for the hackneys trying to get back to the city after dropping their customers off.

In addition to seeing a lot, he could do a lot. One mind to send Mirror Images to the docks. He couldn't send glass that far, but he could warn people to get away from the water. One mind to ask Tonin where his locker was because he needed his armor. A mind to focus on getting the people in the Tower to evacuate. A few more minds to monitor his other eyes, trying to find out if Shroudlings were showing themselves anywhere else.

Then there was his physical body.

“There's been an outbreak,” Brin said, stopping in his tracks.

It was going to take too long to impress on his friends just how quickly things were deteriorating. Marksi, on the other hand, was always quick on the uptake.

“Marksi, go now. I'll show you the way.” He projected a little sparkle of light, and Marksi dashed after it without hesitation. Brin kept speaking to him through illusion as he went. “These things are weak, but there's a lot of them. You'll have to pace yourself; you'll need to be able to shoot dozens of lasers before the night is done. This will be a test of endurance like you've never seen.”

Marksi ran faster, enough that even Brin's illusionary projection struggled to stay ahead of him. Marksi was ready for the challenge.

“An outbreak? A Shroudling outbreak?” Bia asked.

“Ares. Get your dad out of here,” said Brin. “Things are going to get really bad really quick.”

“If it's Shroudlings, I should go with Marksi. The infected are going to need to know how to deal with the symptoms. Believe me when I say that vomiting is the least horrible way to expel the corrupted fluids,” said Bia.

That snapped Brin out of giving orders long enough to give her a horrified stare.

“Crying them out is the worst. Where did your brain go to just now?” she asked.

“Go,” said Brin. “If I spot any others, I'll have you switch targets. Recruit whoever you can on the way.”

She gave a mock salute and then dashed away.

“Brin. What hath transpired?” asked Sancha.

“Dad's not going to want to leave. If people are in danger, he'll want to help get everyone out,” said Ares.

“Do what you can. Then meet me at the carriage return,” said Brin. He turned and started running back into the Tower. Sancha looked between him and Ares, and then decided to follow Brin, which meant that he had to slow down enough to not leave her behind.

Or maybe he was being a little cocky. His top speed was a lot slower with his curse if he didn't want to sprain anything, and Sancha was faster than he expected, even in her fancy dress.

Brin found Tonin and Sanpurana at the carriage return, where a messy traffic jam had already built up. The two of them were carrying all the various pieces of Brin's armor; it was actually a good thing Tonin had another pair of hands for this.

Brin used his Ironman program to order the armor to fly out of their hands and assemble itself over his clothes, though he stepped out of his overcoat and shoes. Then he turned to Sancha and said, “Did you figure it out, by the way?”

“Figure what out? I must protest that I am in a state of utter confusion!”

“This,” said Brin. He put the overcoat back on over the armor since he had stuff in the pockets, and then swept a hand down his front and placed a Mirror Image on top of himself to make it look like he was still wearing nothing but his formal school uniform.

“Oh. I had guessed,” said Sancha, eyes wide at the display.

“You can stay with me or head back to the city house,” Brin said to Tonin. “It's going to get a bit hairy from here on out.”

“I will attend to you, my lord,” said Tonin.

“Good, then let's go,” said Brin.

He summoned his magic, and then threw a single boulder of molten glass into the flaming wagon that was still blocking the road.

The wagon had been packed full of material meant to burn slowly for a long time, but Brin's molten glass forced it all to ignite at once. The result was a hefty explosion that broke a few windows and scattered flaming debris in many directions, threatening to start more fires. But the wagon was no longer blocking the road.

“Tonin, deal with this, and then catch up,” said Brin.

“Yes, my lord,” said Tonin, and then Brin was running again, Sancha behind him.

Just as he'd assumed, the lady he’d seen sprouting Shroudlings wasn't the only one. Bia and Marksi were doing an admirable job of taking them out before they could kill their host, but another one was erupting in the Earth track common room. He told Bia to head over there.

One of his minds alerted him to a sighting. Oh, thank Solia. Rhun and Sion were here, and not too far away.

He dashed over and shouted, “Where's your armor?” at Rhun by way of greeting.

“I always keep it with me,” Sion said, and pulled off his backback. It was a spatial artifact, but it still surprised Brin to see him pull piece after piece of Rhun's brilliant [Knight] armor out of his peddler's pack. Last he took out the greatshield, which by itself was twice as tall as the pack it had been stored in.

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“So it's happening then?”

“What is happening? How knowest thou that something is happening?” asked Sancha through panting breaths.

“That's the look he gets when something is happening,” said Sion.

“That's the look he gets when he thinks we're all going to die,” said Rhun, grinning wide.

Brin helped Rhun with the straps of his armor while he grumbled, “You talk like this happens a lot.”

“I'm so happy I get to come along on one of these!” said Sion.

“What are you talking about? This is your second time,” said Brin.

“You're counting the beach?”

“Of course, I'm counting the beach!”

Brin tugged on a strap just in case, but yeah, Rhun was ready.

“That was quick!” said Sancha.

“I practiced a lot. My Second was a demanding man,” said Rhun.

Sancha gave an appraising glance to Brin. “Yea, I do believe I can see that now.”

In the meantime, Bia had gathered Rafael and Sallvador, but another boy was puking rainbows. This kid was twelve. Not even pre-System children were safe from this.

Bia left Sallvador and Rafael at one of the outbreaks, but that meant she was alone for the other, and while she had an impressive ability to dodge the swarming monsters, she frankly just didn't have enough arms and legs to defeat the Shroudlings before they killed their host.

Brin reached out with his light magic and summoned a laser to take one down. He put much more Mana in it then he'd normally need and fired. It shot with much more force than he expected, taking down the Shroudling and then burning a hole through a classroom door.

That had been as powerful as if he'd fired it straight from his own body. The System must've been counting this as a battle, because he was getting the adjacency bonus from [Warbound].

He smiled, and summoned two dozen more lasers. A flash of light, and the boy was saved.

“Good news?” Sion asked him.

“I think this might actually be manageable,” said Brin. “Oh, wait, hold on.”

On the other side of town, something finally started to stir from the water. A skinless red man burst from the waves, and in a single punch, broke a man in two. Brin had failed to convince the cocksure [Sailor] to get away from the waves, and he winced at the sight of their first casualty of the evening. More of the Shroud monsters emerged from the waves. Dozens, then a hundred, and they just kept coming.

They didn’t [Inspect] the way that Calixtum had. Brin had seen the Class [Who Is Clothed In The Shroud] on Vitor’s protector, but these displayed no Class and showed their Race as [Shrouded]. Even though Calixtum looked exactly like the red skinless Shrouded Brin was now seeing, they were different somehow.

They weren’t inferior in their ability to cause damage, though, and Brin despaired at finding a way to stop them. He could befuddle their movement with illusion for a while, but they seemed to have a sense that let them see through his Mirror Images.

The one place he hadn't been watching was the palace of the [King], and maybe that was an oversight, because a group of high-level soldiers were charging from the grounds into the city proper. Lancarote was sending his personal palace guard to help contain the monsters.

The palace guard made good time as they crossed the city, but then when they hit the main thoroughfare between the Tower and the beach, they seemed to slow for no reason. Rather than simply charging past and through the carriages and citizens on the street, they took the time to move them all out of the way, clearing the road completely as if there was a giant army following behind, though that wasn't the case.

The Motley horde moved in the same general direction, perhaps drawn by the palace guard, but it wouldn't stay that way. Everything was telling him that this was a losing strategy—the horde would surely spread out and start a massacre among the citizens of Steamshield. But instead, they did exactly what the palace guards were somehow expecting. The Tower was their only target, and they charged straight down the road.

The palace guard mounted a bloody and desperate defense, but only for long enough for their comrades to finish off clearing the street. Once they were done, they made an orderly retreat, and the horde continued down the road, not even engaging the men lining the sides. They were moving straight towards the Tower.

Brin had a few friends and some potions. He wasn't nearly enough to defend the Tower against this threat. Even if he somehow convinced every [Mage] on the ground floor, he didn't think it would be enough. They needed an army.

Meanwhile, something was going on with Hogg. Valentin had led him and the other [Mages] into the center of the Circle of Illusions, and then into doors that Brin didn't even have access to.

The room was circular, centered around a raised dais with two obelisks at waist-height, both of them topped by glowing green orbs.

“We can speak here,” Valentin said simply.

A robed figure spoke. Feminine and old. [Wyrdic Inspect] didn't give him anything on the System side, but on the Wyrd side it was obvious this person was extremely powerful in Fate magic. “To give credit where it has been earned, your warnings have proven salient, [Mage] Hogg.”

“Indeed. I was certain your warning of a horde of monsters springing from the Alent were nothing but mad ramblings. And yet here we are,” said Eido, a [Grand Magus of Crushing Earth].

“I've searched that lake top to bottom. There's nothing there larger than a Barrel Crab. So where did they come from?” asked a woman who [Inspected] as Cinda, a [Grand Magus of Land's End]. All eight of the assembled men and women were [Grand Magi], apparently, with the exception of Valentin and the robed figure. These were probably the strongest people left in the Tower.

“It matters not. Battle has come to the Tower. All that may yet be decided is how the Tower will respond to it. I offer this warning: if we continue on the current path, the Tower will fall,” said the robed Fate reader.

This particular crowd didn't respond in shock and disbelief that another might have. Instead, there was silence. Old men stroked their beards, and wizened women tapped their fingernails against their staves, considering.

“I can activate Tristan's defenses,” said Eido.

“I will organize the Circle of Fire,” said Gavrel, the [Grand Magus of Fire].

“And I will repel the invaders with barriers for as long as I might,” said the [Grand Magus of the Driving Wind].

“But has the Master of Magic left us anything we can use?” asked Cinda.

“Just this,” said Valentin, nodding to the artifact in the center, whose purpose Brin still hadn't guessed.

“And what is it? Indeed, with all the secrecy and urgency, I sort of hoped you were taking me to see the Grand Focus of Keetes,” said Eido.

“Oh, is that what we’re calling it now?” asked Hogg.

“This, the Grand Focus? No, no. That remains in Chaos' private laboratory on the eighty-first floor,” Valentin said with a chuckle. A few of the [Grand Magi] laughed along at the thought. The Grand Focus of Keetes was something the Easterlings were willing to risk attacking the Tower over, so surely the Master wouldn't risk it in anyone else's hands. But Brin had a good enough feeling for Valentin's comedic timing to know that a punchline was coming.

“No, no,” continued Valentin. “This is the control and linking array for the Grand Focus of Keetes which will allow one of us the use of its full power.”

Again, silence. Again, considering. It was Cinda who asked first. “Can any of us use it?”

“In short, yes. But the power we might draw from it will be dependent on how near our chosen element is with the concept of Light. It is an eye, after all,” said Valentin.

“Then surely you should use it,” said Cinda.

“Perhaps. But after a bit of consideration, I began to see that my ability to coordinate our allies and confuse our enemies is already nearly limitless in this Tower. With this, I will greatly expand my ability to create scorching beams of light, but is that truly the best use of it?” asked Valentin.

Brin admired Valentin's humility, but he didn't share it. If he had that gem he'd be unstoppable. Why wasn't he down there?

“Then surely I should use it,” said the [Grand Magus of Fire]. “Light is the emanation of flame.”

“Perhaps,” said Valentin.

“I might take up this power,” said Hogg. To all present, he would [Inspect] as the [Grand Magus of the Devouring Shadow]. Which was pretty cool, but it was also too bad that no one could know that his real Class was actually the equally cool [Grand Magus of Physical Illusion].

They'd had a nice little celebration when Hogg finally broke through, but only Lumina and Brin had been invited.

“Shadow is the opposite of light. Surely you are least suited of all of us to use this power,” said Cinda.

Shadow might be too far, but Hard Light was pretty close.

“It is my right to use it. And I am the logical choice. And that is the problem, isn't it? Because that is the natural outcome of this conversation, and therefore it is the continuation of our current path, wherein we fail. Is it not so, Duarda?” asked the [Grand Magus of Fire].

“It is so,” said the Fate Reader.

“Are you saying we should give it to [Mage] Hogg? Putting his youth aside, and his inexperience, I will admit that I have tested myself against the power of his summoned Shadow Elementals. They are not to be underestimated. But Hogg, I understand that two is your limit, yes? Even if this device could lend you the power to create ten, it wouldn't be enough. We would need a hundred. Or more!” said Cinda.

“A hundred you say? Heh. Who do you think I am?” Hogg was really playing himself up as an edgelord around this crowd. It was fun to see him let loose like this.

Hogg stepped up on the dais, and without prompting or permission, placed his hands on the two orbs. He began to speak as if the entire intonation were a Skill name. [From the darkest depths that lie in the shade cast by the fire of the pits of hell, I summon you. My servants. My slaves. My warriors. Rise, I call you! One thousand Shadow Elementals!]”