Chapter 321: Chapter 318: Grand Melee
The Marquis also realized that the Red Robed Mage might be Rorschach.
While secretly channeling his former power back into his body to heal, the Marquis also tried to stall for time with questions. This old schemer keenly realized his tactic might work. "Which of you is Rorschach? And who is the other one?"
And he succeeded. The Rorschach who had revealed his face didn’t press his advantage, instead waiting for the Red Robed Mage to act. The Spiritual Light concealing the Red Robed Mage’s face dissipated, revealing, as expected, a second Rorschach. Although their faces were identical, this one was clearly more animated, his expressions more vivid, and... more impolite. "Old man, you’re still hung up on that? What’s the point? Eh, doesn’t matter. We’ll both take you on!"
But by then, the Marquis was nearly ready. He stopped contending with the two Rorschachs and took the initiative, splitting himself into countless bat-like black shadows that surged toward the convoy of Mouse Speakers and Gray Elves. Meanwhile, his main body dove for Singrev.
How had Rorschach’s group managed to overcome a superior foe and reverse the power disparity with the Marquis? It was through the "conquest" of the "Mouse Speaker Kingdom," which forced the Shadow Land to acknowledge Singrev as the master of this region, thereby selecting him as its agent of power.
’The Marquis could do the same. If he could just crush that noisy, make-believe Mouse Kingdom army and slaughter those mud-bloods and rat-people, it would be tantamount to defeating Singrev. The power of the Shadow Land would then return from Singrev to his own body, and he would finally have the strength to deal with Rorschach.’
Two of the slightly stronger split forms once again confronted the two Rorschachs. One was the Marquis in his prime, clad in majestic Armor and recklessly brandishing a longsword. The other was an incredibly sinister concentration of power from Is, which had already lost its human form and was little different from a monster.
The armored Marquis used his exquisite skill to close in on Original Rorschach, decisively striking with a grim longsword condensed from the power of the Shadow Land. Unable to dodge in time, Rorschach was cleaved straight through. Just as the prime Marquis thought he had succeeded, he realized the impact felt wrong. His opponent had turned incorporeal. Then, a massive, invisible hand swatted the prime Marquis out of the air, slamming him into the ground.
Red Robed Rorschach giggled. "I’m starting to think split personalities are an epidemic around here."
He faced the pitch-black, tentacled monster form of the Marquis. With no need for any complex gestures, he simply flicked his staff, instantly unleashing dozens of glittering, high-speed, spinning Silver Stars.
This was Mage Yina’s signature spell, which was especially effective against evil creatures. However, the original version only produced a mere three. Now, this veritable shotgun blast of stars left the fallen Marquis who had charged him with no place to run. He could only let the high-speed projectiles, like out-of-control saw blades, frantically slice and grind his pure-black body to rags.
Even so, this supreme abomination didn’t die. Tiny tentacles emerged from the gaping wounds, pulling the edges together in an attempt to heal.
Red Robed Rorschach raised his staff again. "If once isn’t enough, I’ll do it again." This time, however, he began to charge the spell. A divine radiance faintly gathered at the tip of his staff, and what condensed were no longer Silver Stars, but pure gold ones.
The fallen Marquis’s form trembled instinctively. It knew fear and quickly fled. However, the two avatars had achieved their purpose. The Marquis’s other splintered forms and his Shadow Guards had reached the convoy and were preparing to reap the lives of the "invaders from the Mouse Speaker Kingdom."
The Gray Elves were completely at a loss in a battle where Magic and Divine Power flew side-by-side, and chaos and order blurred together. They could only remember their most basic orders: raise their guns, swords, and Shields to protect the small-statured Mouse Speakers. The Mouse Speakers, in turn, summoned great swarms of bats to engage the Marquis’s Shadow Guards.
However, it was Caroline who played the most crucial role. She revealed herself, and a ripple of stagnant space expanded outward. The spell’s effect was to "limit speed." Movement below a critical threshold was unaffected, but anything faster—especially the Marquis’s splintered forms and the highly mobile Shadow Guards—began to stutter and lag severely. Their superior mobility was temporarily neutralized.
Silsa faced a hideous black monster, drawing her dagger to strike. But the monster instantly deformed, flowing around her attack and surging toward her like a wave of black sludge.
’There’s no time to use a Scroll...’ Just as the Shadow Guard was about to smother Silsa’s face and steal her Soul, a powerful suction force erupted from behind it. Silsa had to grip her weapon tightly, lest her own dagger be pulled away.
Silsa’s crisis was averted. Caroline turned to the young Gray Elf girl. "Are you all right?"
Silsa nodded. "Thank you." It was the first time her life had been saved by a human, and a Caster, no less. She watched the female Mage’s silhouette as she protected the Gray Elves and Mouse Speakers, lost in thought.
Atop the convoy, it was a battle of King versus Marquis. The Marquis’s true body was now engaged with Singrev. The Minstrel steadfastly held his post, his playing growing more frantic as the battle intensified. Since the Minstrel himself possessed no combat prowess, a masked Benedict brandishing his blade and His Majesty King Singrev personally swinging his hammer flanked him, guarding him as they fought the Marquis.
The Marquis was relieved. ’Singrev is just a half-baked, newly-crowned King, unable to properly control his newfound power. He just swings that hammer around clumsily.’ In truth, Singrev had chosen to be an Adventurer because of his wild and free nature, a disposition inherently at odds with both the corruption of Is and the rules of the Lord of Order. He was only helping his good friend Rorschach, barely holding on as he endured the searing pain of the power burning his Soul.
However, when a single swing of his hammer could unleash a devastating shockwave, and any wound he sustained could be instantly healed by the power of the Shadow Land, the Dwarf’s discomfort was quickly submerged in the joy of pure combat. ’This feels amazing!’
The Marquis realized his plan was only a partial success. He was caught in a stalemate and hadn’t reclaimed his power, and now the two Rorschachs were free to deal with the rest of his forces. However, the Marquis had another ace up his sleeve. He wasn’t fighting alone—even if his allies weren’t human.
Rorschach suddenly sensed several powerful beings appearing from somewhere in the Core Area. They were two stories tall and lacked distinct heads or torsos. Their size and shape resembled small, mobile hills, and they squeezed the buildings on either side of the street, sending up crashing sounds and billowing clouds of dust.
These beings had long arms and hands, and they carried prods made from whole trees—an essential tool for a Shepherd, and the prototype of the Scepter. Surrounding the enormous bodies of these Shepherds of the Shadow Land was a flock of "sheep," but to Rorschach’s eyes, they were clearly humanoid creatures cloaked in sheepskin.
This wasn’t the first time Rorschach and his companions had encountered the Shepherds. Back when they visited the Marquis’s Mansion by carriage, a hand like that of a Spirit Body had reached inside. Though the scale was vastly different, Rorschach recognized their presence instantly.
’Should we attack? Will that create an opening for the Marquis?’ Original Rorschach faced the Shepherds, while the Red Robed Rorschach turned to face their own allies. These Shepherds had been brazenly herding their flocks in the grassless Shadow City for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. According to the memories of the Wise Man’s Illusion, they might even be the original inhabitants of the Shadow Land.
These creatures possessed immense Magic Power contained within their bodies. Though they lacked the skill to wield it, they could not be underestimated. If they joined the battle as the Marquis’s allies, they could not only annihilate the Gray Elf and Mouse Speaker forces with ease, but they might also tip the scales of the entire conflict.
"’Should we engage...?’" Red Robed Rorschach murmured, the dozens of golden stars he had prepared circling around him, poised to strike.
